


where oceans bleed into the sky

by Knightblazer



Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pacific Rim (2013), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossover, M/M, Mentions of Character Death, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Triggers, Violence, mentions of other relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2013-11-30
Packaged: 2018-01-03 01:43:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 62,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knightblazer/pseuds/Knightblazer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>In fact, the only reason why Tony found out that Bruce Banner was a Jaeger pilot was because he had shown Fury his schematics for a new Jaeger and his only response had been “Nobody can drift in that, Stark”.</i>
</p><p>(A Bruce/Tony  AU set in the Pacific Rim universe, wrtitten for <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo 2013</a>.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	where oceans bleed into the sky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [terrigenesis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/terrigenesis/gifts).



> So sometime back in August I started to write this after being enabled by a certain someone (and also after seeing it prompted [here](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/17385.html?thread=38351593#t38351593) at avengerkink), but then I went on a holiday in September and it kind of started to collect dust. Then NaNo came, and against better judgement I decided to pick it up once more - now after said NaNo, the fic is amazingly complete so here it is. It is however totally unedited and unbeta'd because I'm way too tired to do it at this point, so please do forgive any and all errors that crop up in this fic that became far longer than it had any right to be. 
> 
> As always, with all of that said and done, please do enjoy the story!

Bruce Banner was a Jaeger pilot. 

Well, to be more precise, he _had_ been a Jaeger pilot, and Tony is frankly surprised he actually hadn’t picked it up sooner.

To be fair, there were a lot of reasons for it—he had been busy helping the technicians and other engineers in the Shatterdome to patch up and upgrade all the Jaegers because he had figured out a way to improve the neural bridge between the pilots. And, sure, there were only three Jaegers but it was still a lot of work and that alone took up most of his time. When he wasn’t busy with that he was instead calling Pepper and trying to get her to come to the Shatterdome because the kaiju breaches were getting worse and worse each time and when she refused (she always refused, and Tony supposed he couldn’t blame her for that) he called Rhodey and told him to please, _please keep an eye on Pepper and I still owe you for Sydney, okay?_

Those were just some of the reasons, really, but the biggest reason was that Bruce Banner hated Jagers. Hate was a nice way to put it, honestly—he _loathed_ them, and the fact that Bruce Banner did not like Jaegers was as obvious as the fucking sun. In fact, the only reason why Tony found out that Bruce Banner was a Jaeger pilot was because he had shown Fury his schematics for a new Jaeger and his only response had been “Nobody can drift in that, Stark”.

So Tony had been going through the database (both the classified and the unclassified ones), trying to find any possible pilot he could cajole into trying out the new Jaeger when he noticed Banner’s name on the list and had opened it out of curiosity. 

Impressed was one way to say how Tony felt after he read through the file.

Tony read the file again and then thought about it. He had JARVIS copy the file into his personal database to read through one more time and then thought about it some more. Bruce Banner hated Jaegers but had been a Jager pilot, and with the contents of his file Tony couldn’t help but be interested now—he always did love a good mystery.

* * *

“ _No._ ”

Tony stifles down a sigh at that, but he supposes he can’t find himself surprised. It was hard enough to be able to talk to Banner, let alone bring up this topic, and while he had expected this it would be a lie to say that it didn’t sting. The Jaegers were _his_ creation after all—his greatest work, his _magnum opus_. Well, maybe after the arc reactor, but that’s another thing altogether. The fact was, Banner not liking the Jaegers? Tony couldn’t let that lie, especially after seeing through his history.

“Now, see—” he starts, hands rising up in the universal gesture of surrender as he eyes Banner and watches him closely. He’s not quite what Tony thought he would be, what with the ruffled look and the week’s worth of stubble across his jaw. He’s smaller than the average Jaeger pilots too, Tony notices quickly, and the loose clothes on him only serve to highlight his small frame. 

Tony knows that physical conditions aren’t the top priority for a Jaeger pilot, but come on. Even Foster could probably kick him down to the ground at this point, and she was with _Thor_.

Banner’s words cut through both his thoughts and his words. “It’s not going to happen, Stark,” he grits out, every word pointed and straight and aimed right at him. Again: unsurprising.

He lowers his hands. “You haven’t even heard what I’m going to say and you’re turning me down. A little unfair, don’t you think?”

In response Banner raises the papers in his hands—the papers that Tony had just passed him minutes ago, right before dropping the question on him. “You just showed me the specs, Mr. Stark. I know what they’re going to require, and I know myself and my own research. Enough people have already died because of this and I—” He stops before he can finish his sentence, and Tony watches as he sucks in a breath and forces calm back into himself, quietly marvels at bit at how much control Banner has because _control_ —well, that’s what Tony lacks, and he knows. Not just himself, but also why Banner needs that control.

He stops his thoughts once more when Banner starts to speak again. “You can ask the other Rangers to try in bigger pilot configurations. That’s all the advice I can give to you.”

Tony doesn’t roll his eyes, but it’s a near thing. “Anything beyond a two-pilot configuration is nearly impossible to achieve, and you know it. Unless we somehow manage to get triplets or quadruplets, we’re stuck with two.” Tony sure as hell _wishes_ there was something like that, but the last team he knew that had anything like that was from China and they were unfortunate enough to get not one or two but _three_ kaiju attacks in a row. Despite their might, there was only so much they could take. They were just another in the long line of names that Tony carried in his mind to sleep these days.

He calculates his chances and takes a step forward, watching the way Banner unconsciously edges back, trying to make himself small, unnoticeable. Tony wonders if this is how he managed to live out in the wasteland that was Manila for so long until Fury got him into the dome. Wonders why Banner would chose to put himself there in the first place when it was clear he could do so much more than just play doctor. 

“Look, just—hear me out, okay?” Tony makes a gesture with his hands, one that doesn’t entirely make sense, but it’s more of a random thing. It’s hard to stand still in times like these. “It’s gotta be the double handshake; that’s the only thing that can match up to the neural strain. Otherwise it could take another ten, twenty years for the tech to catch up with the concept. Sure, it’d be safe then, but it’d also be too late; you know how often the breach pops out kaiju these days, and it’s only going to get worse.”

He knows he’s playing low here, pressing on Banner’s need to do good—not that hard to figure it out after seeing his track record—but Tony’s never considered himself a good guy anyway. And besides, at least he doesn’t swoop to _Fury’s_ level. “I’m not saying you have to pack up and head off with me _now,_ ” he tries his luck again, “I just need to know if you’re willing enough to give this a shot. If this Jaeger works we could put to rest the Mark I—heck, even the Mark IIs.” He shifts to do a mock salute here, fingers raised in promise. “Just one test, that’s all I’m asking, and I’ll show you that nobody needs to die. Scout’s honor.”

There’s a pause, then, and Tony keeps his gaze fixed on Banner, trying his best not to be hopeful as the man closes his eyes and breathes out loudly, watches as he rubs his temple in what Tony knows is an unconscious gesture. He can’t imagine it, really, having to live every moment with your brain overloading on you, threatening to break any second. He’s read Banner’s file a million and one times by now and he’s still amazed at what Banner’s done; by all accounts Bruce Banner should have been dead, but yet here he was, hiding from the world and playing doctor, the only man in the world who can pilot a Jaeger all by himself.

Not that either of them would ever call it a privilege, of course. There’s a reason Bruce Banner hates Jaegers, after all, and the answer is reflected as clear as day in his file. As amazing as he was, Tony knows it’s not going to be that easy getting Banner to agree with him.

It doesn’t take long for him to be proven correct on that point, too, once Banner finally opens his eyes again. 

“I can’t,” he says, a tone of finality to his voice, but his gaze softens a little, almost apologetic, and Tony would be a liar if he said he didn’t understand the reason—they both have their reasons to do the things they do. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do it. I don’t want anybody else to die because of my mistake.”

Which, of course, is again understandable, but Tony can’t help but sigh still even as he forces himself to relent in his stance. It would be a miracle if he got Banner to agree now, but he’s not going to give up. Banner is pretty much his only hope with the new Jaeger and he can’t stop here, and he sure isn’t going to leave here empty handed either.

“Alright,” Tony starts, slowly now, because maybe if he does that then maybe Banner will understand this better. Maybe. “Nobody’s going to die, okay? Offer’s still here, and you can take your time to decide.” He takes out another file and places it on the table. “If it makes you feel better right there’s the file for your potential co-pilot. Feel free to take a look. Or not, whatever you decide. Choice is up to you. Either way, the file’s yours.” 

Banner flicks his gaze to the file that Tony’s just put on his desk, lips pursed and Tony knows right there and then that Banner has figured out that he’s going to be said potential co-pilot. And that by itself is a gamble, really; Tony doesn’t really like to share anything about himself (one reason why he’s never been that good at drifting, even before the arc reactor became an issue) but he needs Banner’s trust in this. He’s the only one who can make this happen, and if Tony has to lose some privacy, then so be it.

Still, then he has to wonder a little; if Banner hates the Jaegers so much, what does he think about him, the man who made Jaegers a reality in the first place? He was no intention of trying to stand in Banner’s good graces but—he can’t help but be curious.

Maybe he’ll find out soon enough, Tony thinks as he sees Banner reluctantly reaching for the file and taking it, and the man settles his gaze on Tony. 

“…I’ll read it through,” is his answer, and his reluctance is as clear as the way he grabbed the file. “But that’s all I can promise. Nothing else.”

Hearing that is enough for a victory for Tony—it’s a small victory, sure, but it’s still one nevertheless and that’s much better than considering it a failure. Tony hates failures. The point is that Banner now knows, and he hasn’t disagreed entirely, so that is enough for now.

Tony lets a shameless smile cross his face, the ones he used to show in press coverages and magazine articles. “Great,” he says easily, and he’s already making his way to the door, showing himself out. He stops right before he steps out though, giving one last glance at Banner and leaving him with a final note. “Keep me in mind, Banner. You know where to find me.” With that said, he turns around and leaves Banner to his own devices, shutting the door behind him.

Now all he can do is wait.

* * *

Tony doesn’t have to wait long, at least, although the reason for that is not exactly what he wished for.

Kaijus were bad enough to deal with on a near-regular basis, but if there’s anything worse than dealing with Kaijus, its dealing with _people_. Kaiju-nut crazy people, in particular were Tony’s most hated people to deal with, if only because he’s tired of hearing their constant tirade of ‘kaijus are angry gods coming down to punish us and we all deserve to die by their wrath’ preaching sessions. Its days like these where he has to wonder why he even bothers to try, sometimes.

Now wasn’t the time to think about that, though. As crazy as the person was, the kaiju-nut had somehow managed to sabotage the Jaeger launch systems so well that none of the currently operable Jaegers could be launched. Naturally, of course, it was also the time where the breach decided to do some serious activity and came out with not one but _two_ kaijus that were now presently heading towards Hong Kong and its inhabitants. If it had been just one maybe the defence systems of the Shatterdome might have handled it, but with two? They didn’t stand a chance at all.

It was going to take at least an hour, maybe two before the systems were back online and by then the kaijus would have long brought Hong Kong to the ground. As it stood, the only Jaeger that could start up and met the kaijus in time was the experimental Jaeger (which didn’t even have a name yet—if it wasn’t for the situation, Tony would have said this was blasphemy). It was a hulk of iron and steel, with complex systems and controls only somebody on Tony’s level could understand (basically nobody at all) and a Drift system designed for Banner’s double handshake, which pretty much meant nobody else could pilot it. Nobody else, that is, except for him and Banner. 

The choice was clear on what to do.

Banner doesn’t look too pleased as they step into the cockpit of the Jaeger, but he isn’t the only one feeling that way. Even though the communicator every word and order issued by Fury and Hill are all laced with thinly-veiled disapproval about what Tony is doing—in fact he can hear Fury saying something like ‘the only reason you’re doing this is because we have no other choice’ except, you know, in his stoic, former master spy-like way.

Tony, of course, pointedly ignores it in favour of focusing on Banner who hasn’t even so much as looked at him since he agreed to this. Was the man nervous? Maybe. It doesn’t seem like he’s worried about the prospect of dying, at least, but then again not dying was kind of in the job description these days. Perhaps he was worried about the drift—well, Tony can’t blame him for that then, he supposes; he knows he can be kind of intimidating when he wants to be. But they were going to be in each other’s head soon enough so… he might as well try to make peace while he still can.

“Sorry about the…” he starts, trails off for a moment as he gestures around them, “uh, stuff. Mess. Everything’s still kind of experimental. I did ask to get the inside all done in red and gold but they told me it was too distracting, or something. Not that I can understand why.” Tony realizes now that he’s starting to babble, so he stops in order to hook himself up to the controls and gets ready to initiate the drift. “Anyway, you ready for this?”

Banner is doing that thing where he’s trying to keep himself calm again—by which he means he’s taking in deep breaths and possibly doing some of that New Age breathing exercises crap. Tony honestly thinks that’s just all placebo—but hey, to each his own. Better to have Banner with control than to have Banner without any control whatsoever, especially taking his records into account. 

He watches Banner do his breathing thing a few more times before he moves to hook himself up to the Jaeger too, and its only after that does he actually answer the question, and his voice is nothing but blunt honestly. “No. But it’s not like I really have a choice at this point.”

Tony knows that here is where other people would apologize, but Tony Stark doesn’t apologize and really—he doesn’t see a need to apologize. This is all going to go _great_. They’ll get this over and done within minutes and they can all go celebrate with drinks and a party and maybe strip dancers or something, if they still even exist. Tony doesn’t really venture out as much these days. But the main thing is that this will work. It will work.

(It has to work. There’s no other choice.)

So instead of apologizing like other people would he smiles that shameless smile of his again and puts on his best game face. “That’s what I like to hear,” he says, and then slips on his helmet before Banner can actually see how nervous he is. He’s excited, yes, but the nervousness is still there—honestly there are a million and one ways this could go wrong, and he doesn’t need his mind and the readouts from the HUD telling him that. He’s calibrated the arc reactor for this, but there’s always a chance that it could get fried, or the neural strain from Banner could liquefy his brain, or something else entirely—but that all doesn’t matter. Nothing else matters right now except accomplishing what he made himself step into a Jaeger for the first time in so many years.

Beside him Banner has put on his helmet, too, and is about as ready as either of them can never be for this. Tony gives the readouts one last look over (usually firing a new Jaeger requires a lot of communication with the bridge, but he’s fucking Tony Stark and he made the Jaegers—most of the time, he _is_ the bridge) and glances over at Banner to give him a nod. Banner nods back, and Tony communicates their green light over to Hill. “We’re all set. You know what to do.”

 _“Green light confirmed,”_ she returns the signal. _“Initiating Drift sequence in ten seconds.”_

Tony rolls his shoulders and takes a deep breath of his own as Hill counts down the seconds to the Drift. His mind is buzzing with his last thoughts, again about how this might fail spectacularly, how he might die in a matter of moments—but again, that all doesn’t matter. There were bigger things at stake here. 

He closes his eyes, exhales, clearing his mind while he listens to Hill announcing out the last second—

(It’s been a while since he’s drifted, sure, but they’re not new to him either, and in every one of them he’s always managed to keep people distanced from him. That’s partly why he’s never been able to be compatible with anybody, and that had been before the arc reactor got into the picture and made him pretty much incompatible with anyone at all; at least, Tony’s pretty sure that was the case—the only person Tony ever tried to drift with the arc reactor was Rhodey, and he was his _best friend._

—and fine, maybe he had also tried with Rogers. But that had been a _spectacular failure_ and he barely talked to Rogers for months after that attempt. For what it was worth, at least Rogers managed to get Barnes out of that entire fiasco.)

—Tony thought he had gone through a lot in his lifetime (and he had, really), but when the handshake comes its _violent_ , almost like a punch in a gut instead of the handshake it was, and the stream of _everything_ that pours into him roars like a raging river. 

He sees pain and guilt and there’s death on his shoulders like weight he can’t shake off—his mom, the accident, the pain of it all, the guilt that bites at him day and night in-between. He sees just as Bruce saw the moment his world crumbled apart around him, crumbling more and more and just as he’s trying to pick up the pieces to put them back together the world breaks apart again as the woman he loved with all his heart _die_ because of him. He sees the world shatter before his eyes and then there’s nothing else left as he runs from the ones who were chasingfollowing _hunting_ —

Tony stops before he can lose himself in the memories. The memories were strong, yes, but they weren’t _his_ and he’s aware enough about that to ease up. He lets out a breath he wasn’t aware he had been holding back and closes his eyes, focusing, slowly reaching to Banner who’s already recovering from the initial shock of drifting with Tony Stark. Rhodey had described it to him once before after copious amounts of alcohol following the night after their failed attempt—he told him about the initial sensation that comes when they drifted together; of the searing, sharp pain in his chest that nearly split him into half, almost as if his heart was being viciously gouged out.

As Banner recovers he feels the other more and more, the brilliance of a mind that he hides under the guise of playing doctor. So much more to Bruce Banner than the pain and the fear and guilt (and doesn’t Tony know how _that_ feels); this was a man willing to risk for innovation, for the future and just as he suspected, did want to use his power to help people more than what he was doing now even though the constant nagging of _risk, risk, risk_ prevented him from really acting on it. But the sentiment was there, and it’s actually a bit of a surprise as to how much they have in common, the runaway scientist and the standalone (former) billionaire.

He feels it, then, as Banner adjusts to the drift properly and he sees—sees how he lives in fear of not the world but of _himself_ , in hurting others and the terrible burden of being not a failure, but rather a success. What Bruce had done then, what he had to do, the risk he took and the sacrifice he had to make—and Tony remembers Harlem, everybody remembers Harlem—and he sees the result of Banner—no, _Bruce’s_ —work, his greatest achievement and also his greatest regret. 

Tony sees and feels all of that, but more importantly he feels the way Bruce simply accepts him even after all that he has seen of Tony through the drift, the warm and welcome weight of Bruce Banner’s mind and heart taking him in without so much as a complaint. Bruce reaches out so easily for him and Tony can feel his awe and wonder through their connection, how Bruce sees everything but only calls him _fantastic_ and _brilliant_ even though Tony is certain he doesn’t deserve that. 

Still, this is only the beginning. Bruce is holding back the second handshake before it can occur and once again Tony marvels at his ability to control something that’s utterly astronomical. He knows that Bruce is doing it for his sake, and he does appreciate it—he can’t exactly hide his feelings from Bruce now that they’re linked. 

The voice of Maria Hill buzzes to life on the intercom. _“Regular neural handshake confirmed,”_ comes the announcement. _“Higher level neural connection initiating in ten seconds.”_

Tony looks over to Bruce. “You ready for this?”

Bruce’s response is to square his shoulders and do his breathing thing one more time before he nods. “As much as either of us can be.”

He closes his eyes after saying that, and through their connection Tony can feel Bruce slowly undoing the lock he has around that power, feels it slowly trickling over like a puddle. Bruce tries to take it slow but he can feel the moment his control slips and then it all suddenly comes out bursting out like water from a dam, the walls crumbling and there’s a roar in his ears—

Tony can see why now Hill had refrained from calling this a ‘handshake’, because if he had to put what he felt at that moment into words a handshake would be the _last_ thing he would call it. If he had to give it a name he would call it more like a fucking _punch in the throat_. Or stomach. Or gut. Or anywhere, really, maybe even everywhere. What he feels is a goddamned tidal wave—a tsunami, even, raging, roaring, breaking everything down in its path, swallowing everything and leaving nothing bare. He gasps, chest heaving while his eyes squeeze shut of their own accord, and he’s breathing likes he’s drowning in water when he’s not but it’s almost the same thing. There isn’t anything logical or reasonable about this—it just _is_ ; memories in their rawest state, unfiltered emotions without thoughts or images. The rawest part of Bruce pouring into him, a deep-seeded rage that never stopped burning, a blinding pain that’s almost inhuman, far worse than the pain in his chest. It’s not hard to see now why people have died from this—the sheer force of it all is enough to kill just about anybody’s mind. 

But Tony Stark isn’t just anybody, and more than that he has read through Bruce’s files countless times and picked apart everything. He had prepared himself for this, and gotten ready a countless number of failsafes to make sure it would all go right. He’s got more wiring in his chest and around his heart than even the Mark I’s because there’s no intention of him dying on Bruce. When his heart starts to fail from his hyperventilation the arc reactor on his chest kicks in to shock his heart back on track. When the neural output from Bruce starts to become too much for his mind to handle his pilot suit (specialized, just like everything he has) kicks in and redirects it to the arc reactor. Even with all of that though it’s still not _easy_ , and Tony bowls over in pain from it all, and it feels like forever before it all finally starts to recede and Tony can actually feel himself again.

He coughs once the worst is over, taking sharp, ragged breaths as he straightens back up and notices that everything suddenly seems to be green as he opens his eyes but he doesn’t really care right now because _god he’s actually alive, did you see that? You didn’t kill me, Bruce, you didn’t kill me, we can do this_ —and despite it all he starts to laugh. It’s shaky and breathless and definitely premature but Tony has never felt gladder to be alive. He had felt Bruce’s fear as keenly as if it was his own, that split-second terror that he might have just killed somebody again and Tony is glad that he had managed to prove him wrong.

Tony is sure that his joy is something that Bruce can feel too because the other man is soon laughing with him, the sheer _relief_ bubbling from him and it’s perfect. This is perfect and amazing and now nothing can hold them back after making past the biggest hurdle. It’s him and Bruce to infinity and beyond and nothing has ever felt as good as this moment. Now there’s literally nothing in the world that can stop them, not even the kaijus.

The moment only ends when Hill pointedly clears her throat through the comms and she speaks. _“Higher neural level connection confirmed. Testing synchronization of left and right hemisphere of Mark VI experimental Jaeger.”_

 _Left arm: ready. Right arm; ready._ They’re so in-sync that they don’t even need to say that out, their thoughts flowing so smoothly between them it’s almost surreal. Fury asks them to give the Jaeger a test and they do so easily, lifting up and Jaeger’s giant arms in complete unison. With this depth of synchronization they move as one, think as one—are literally one; Tony can’t remember the last time he felt this sure, this free, this—everything. He’s right there with Bruce as they let everything go, a joy as strong as the pain he felt just less than a minute ago.

“So,” he says, turning his head to Bruce, and somehow it’s weird to say the words and somehow also hear them differently at the same time, almost like talking to himself but not quite. “What do you say we go and kick some kaiju butt to the bottom of the Mariana trench?”

Bruce’s answer this time is a small smile that lights up a spark in his now-green eyes. “I’d say that sounds like a plan.”

* * *

In the end, the Mark VI more than performs admirably—it literally exceeds expectations, even Tony’s, with the battle itself finishing in mere _minutes_. They don’t even get to try the shiny weapons that the Jaeger is equipped with; its bare fists were more than enough to take care of both kaijus. The damage to the city is minimal, if there was any at all, and really—the way they managed to devastate the kaiju with such ease is almost surreal. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was there, Tony would have thought this was a dream.

When they get back literally everyone in the Shatterdome cheers and congratulates them; even Romanoff, who nods at them approvingly and says ‘good job’. Thor declares that there will be a feast later on, and Barton wryly remarks that they might just put the rest of them out of commission now. Tony also gets to go ‘I told you so’ to Fury (who of course just rolls his eye but says a curt ‘good work’ anyway), which was enough of a victory in and of itself.

As good as all of that feels, though, it’s also much more than that; something beyond the rush of this accomplishment, of the fact that he had proven himself to the others. Piloting the Mark VI with Bruce had been the rush of a lifetime—it wasn’t just because he hadn’t drifted in years, or the fact that the Mark VI had been such an amazement even to him. This was something much deeper than that. Something about surviving that second handshake, of staying _alive_ and _living_ and being one with Bruce just as Bruce was one with him. This was about Bruce being with him and being in his head as if he’s always meant to be there, so perfect and good and Tony has always heard about how Jaeger pilots are supposed to be two parts of a whole but he had never realized how incomplete he felt until now.

Even the realization of that was something that struck Tony as something he never thought he would have. Right from the very start Tony has never liked letting anybody in, or letting them see the things that make him tick, all his joys and sadness and elation and fear. Even with Rhodey (who he trusts and would give his life for without a second thought) there were still aspects of himself that Tony would never want to let his best friend see or even hear about had it been not for the drift. He had always hated the thought of letting go and drifting too deep, of letting people know of the things he kept hidden even from himself and pretended to ignore.

(The arc reactor coming into his life had brought one good thing, at least: with it having to keep check of his neurons, he couldn’t drift with anybody else without risk of giving them a possible haemorrhage.)

But yet with Bruce it all feels so safe and so—natural. It had been so easy to let go, so simple, and for all of the fact that Bruce had welcomed him he had never expected himself to welcome Bruce right back. To actually _want_ to share everything about him to somebody, much less a somebody who made his eyes glow green and literally gave him a heart attack. But he had, and where they had been strangers just this morning, now he literally knows everything about Bruce just as Bruce knows everything about him. And where he should be worried about that, Tony finds himself not even sweating it and the thought is—strange. Weird, if he had to be honest about it. 

He makes a note to look through everything in that battle and barges at Hill until she agrees to send him all the records and data they got from the battle; readouts, brain activity, drift readings—everything. Tony intends to go through them all to see what he can gleam from the data. The rate of compatibility they had was astounding, near-astronomical, and Tony needed to understand that, the rate at which they had turned their minds, side by side. He needs to understand that so that he knows how to do it even _better_ next time, possibly even use it as a template of sorts to look into ways to strengthen the neural connection of the other pilots.

That’s for tomorrow, though. The drift had sapped a lot out of him mentally, as deep as he had been, and Thor’s following celebration after that had him beat. He had tried, to his own credit, but he could barely look at the numbers or stare at the footage without nodding off. And even though all he wants is to collapse in his bed and sleep for the next week, instead Tony finds himself dragging his feet all the way down to where Bruce’s quarters. He had been given a room all the way down since he had first been brought here to aid Geiszler and Gottlieb (two of the strangest weirdoes if he had never saw one, the former especially) and also provide medical assistance, but now that he was going to be a pilot again he was probably going to get a with all the other pilots. That was good; it meant that he wouldn’t need to take such a long walk next time when he could barely even stand.

Tony lets out a yawn as he knocks on the door, not even bothering to keep said yawn quiet and it echoes down the hallway. He knocks again after that, scratching the back of his head, and considers knocking one more time when he hears footsteps from the other side of the door. The door opens with a small crack at first, and Tony regards Bruce with a sleepy blink before the door opens entirely and now Bruce is looking at him with pursed lips.

“Mr. Sta—Tony,” the man corrects himself, pausing for a moment after that. Most likely wondering what he was doing here and then debating if it’s worth trying to ignore him or not before deciding that no, it was not. Tony feels a wry curl coming from the corner of his lip as he sees Bruce squaring his shoulders, clearing his throat before he speaks. “What can I do for you?”

Seriously? Was he asking that? As if the fact that he was in his pyjamas wasn’t obvious enough already… “Sleepy,” Tony says, and then lets out another yawn for good measure. “Wanted to see you. Can I come in?”

The way that Bruce was staring at him now was pretty much what Tony expected—he knows Bruce now, after all, knows how unused he is to people wanting him and needing him beyond anything professional and that throws him off, which is good. Tony wants to keep throwing him off. He wants Bruce to know that he totally deserves today as much as Tony himself does. 

It takes a few moments before Bruce does respond—the man exhales out loudly through his nods and steps back with a small (if albeit reluctant) nod. “Of course,” he replies, gesturing to the dismally small room (Tony was _so_ going to correct that once he moved) that Bruce calls his. “Feel free to come in, I guess.”

“Cool.” Tony steps in without missing another beat, hearing Bruce shut the door behind him. He remembers the last time he was in here, attempting to convince him to try out the Mark VI. Now they had, and the room feels a lot more different. There’s a familiarity to it now, an imprint of this place in his mind from the drift; the memories he had from it weren’t going to leave him anytime soon, not with how deep they had went, but Tony doesn’t mind it too much.

He makes his way over to the bed and flops onto it without thinking twice, taking in now-familiar scent of his brand new co-pilot. It helps to fill up the gap he had felt ever since the battle, that strange sense of loss that struck him all the way inside. Now surrounded by Bruce’s things and actually having the man nearby as Bruce carefully goes to sit at the edge of the bed, he can almost feel complete again. 

The thought of how badly he needs this hits him so hard it literally _hurts_.

Tony forces himself to sit up after a minute, running a hand through his head and giving a glance at the tablet he had brought down with him. “So, we did pretty good today, huh?” ‘Pretty good’ was an understatement; they were _excellent_ and _perfect_ and if Bruce was still going to say no to being his co-pilot Tony would think that there was something fundamentally _very wrong_ with him.

Bruce thankfully doesn’t do that, but there’s a distant look on his face that Tony can see until Bruce blinks and mentally shakes himself out of it. “Ah—yeah,” he returns, voice still somewhat distant, and Bruce pauses for another second before he continues to speak. “Congratulations and all that again, I suppose. You deserve it.”

“Couldn’t have done it without you,” Tony mumbles out before he can actually digest what he’s said, but it’s a bit too late to take it back. Not that it would be a good idea—it’s important that they build at this, whatever it is that they had. Tony can understand that this is precious between them and it would hurt them both if they lost it. He had to try and not screw this up. 

He smiles at Bruce, a real one; not the kind that was on the millions of papers and magazine covers that used to circulate the globe until the world started to fall apart. “Seriously, if you weren’t there we couldn’t have managed this. So, you know, thanks for taking that chance even though I know you didn’t like it.” The fact that they could come this far is good, and Tony can’t help but be a little proud—well, almost. It’s hard to say if that pride if for himself or Bruce; bring around the other man without the drift to connect them is going to take some time to get used to.

Bruce smiles back, and its faint, but it’s a smile nevertheless and that’s great. “Thanks for not dying,” he says softly, but Tony can pick up the gratitude and relief in his voice. “It… well, that helped a lot.”

Tony feels his smile widening just a tad. “Anytime. I’m surprisingly good at surviving the unsurvivable.” He taps at the arc reactor on his chest for emphasis, watching as Bruce flicks his gaze down to it, and Tony can see the blow glow reflecting off his eyes. Certainly nothing like the green that happened earlier, although that was just a by-product of the drift—a result of how deep they had synchronized with each other. “Not going to put you through that again, anyway. I saw—”

He sees Bruce stiffening up at that, and he knows this is where it gets tricky. He saw everything about Bruce and vice versa, and Tony knows that both of them have literal landmines of things Very Much Not To Be Talked About. They both have their issues and their problems and Tony can respect that. He certainly doesn’t want people to trapeze on his things and knows that Bruce would appreciate it as well.

“Okay,” he starts again, scooting just a little closer to Bruce and begins to motion with his hands. “Ground rules. Are we going to talk about what we saw in the drift? I’m not going to push if you don’t want me to, but I figure I should extend some courtesy. I’m not really the talk about stuff type myself, but I know you probably saw some bad stuff from me, so, y’know. Figured I at least owe you full disclosure if you want that.”

There’s a pregnant pause after that, one that makes Tony kind of clammy and nervous but he’ll never admit that. If Bruce says he wants to hear then Tony knows he has to give it, no question, but the thought of having to share himself is terrifying. Being in the drift is one thing—but to physically _want_ to share it is another thing entirely. It’s a huge step for him, and for all that has happened and despite his thoughts about it Tony isn’t sure if he’s ready for that.

He watches Bruce warily until the man finally starts to relax, slowly but surely, the tension easing from his body as Bruce rubs his hands together in what Tony knows is a gesture of nervousness. “…we’ll talk when we want to, or when we have to,” he says, voice still soft. “Until then, we can keep each other’s secrets. When the time comes for us to talk, we can do that.”

And that’s—well, that’s great. Perfect, if Tony has anything to say about it. He could kiss the man if Bruce was alright with that (Tony isn’t entirely sure about that, even with the memories he has). But not talking about it is good. Lots of potentially awkward situations nicely avoided, even if they already knew all the worst things about each other. Sometimes words weren’t good for these kinds of things, and Tony gets that. 

“Sounds good to me,” he replies, and scoots over a bit more, except a ‘bit more’ is kind of hard for Tony to measure and he’s practically at Bruce’s side now, their knees touching each other. “But it was awesome, right? I took a quick look at the numbers before coming down here and just— _man_. Our sync-rate was already at max within seconds of the first handshake. Then with the second they actually had to readjust the scale, so the readings are kind of useless at this point. Next time I gotta figure out how to adjust the—” Tony cuts himself with a yawn, a loud one this time, and his initial excitement and energy just kind of flickers out and dies because he really was kind of tired.

Bruce gives him a _look_ then, one that’s exasperated and worried at the same time, and his tone is clearly disapproving as he chides pointedly. “We can discuss that after you’ve gotten some rest. You need to recover from the neural strain you’ve expanded today.”

Basically smart talk for ‘go to sleep, Tony’, which is totally cool with him. Tony likes it when Bruce uses smart talk at him, even if he isn’t going to show it (yet). He pouts and rubs his eyes dramatically, trying to hide his own relief that at least Bruce seems to be fine. That’s admittedly one of the reasons why he came all the way down here. “Alright, fine. But tomorrow I want your opinion on the readings. We probably have to—” He stops for a moment to flop himself back down on the bed again. “—have to run another test, just to make sure.”

“We’ll see then,” he hears Bruce’s response, and then there’s that inventible awkward pause because Bruce has finally figured out that Tony has no intention of leaving his bed and really, that should have been obvious from the start. A guy just doesn’t come down in his sleeping clothes for no reason, you know. Tony manages not to roll his eyes as Bruce glances down at him awkwardly, clearing his throat once more. “…you should head back to your room before you fall asleep here.”

Tony looks back at him expectantly. “That’s the whole point. My room’s kind of empty right now.” He curls up with his tablet, shifting around so that his head is on the edge of Bruce’s pillow and there’s more than enough space for another man to lie down. “C’mon, there’s room for one more,” he says, as if this was his own bed and now Bruce’s own.

Bruce instantly does the thing where he’s pursing his lips again, expression turning guarded. He couldn’t see it last time, but now Tony knows Bruce enough to know he’s doing that ‘everything I touch dies’ logic against himself and _really_ , didn’t it get old? Especially considering what already happened earlier. Tony has to fight against rolling his eyes once more, especially when Bruce crosses his arms in an unconscious gesture of self-defence and nearly glares at him. 

“We can’t, alright?” he says, and Tony is sure even Bruce can tell how pathetic and weak his voice is here. “I’m. I’m busy.”

Tony manages to suppress a snort, but it’s a near thing and he gives Bruce a mildly unimpressed look. “Nobody’s forcing you, Mr. Double Handshake. But you know this is totally normal, right? Me wanting to be close or whatever. Echo of the drift, or whatever you wrote in your papers.”

He doesn’t bother to see the way Bruce’s face twists and reacts to that, instead opting to roll over so that he was facing away from Bruce—partly to give him some privacy, and also so that Bruce didn’t see the smirk that was appearing on his face. “It’s just a cuddle, I swear. I’ll keep my hands to myself and everything. I won’t tell anybody if you don’t.”

There’s another long pause once again after that, this one seemingly longer and Tony wonders if he’s chased Bruce away, if he’s pushed too far already. The thought of that stings and Tony can only congratulate himself if that’s the case. This had to be a record, surely, of how quickly he had screwed things up. Way to go, Stark—

His thoughts still, as do his entire body when the bed shifts and he feels Bruce settling beside him, one arm tentatively resting on his waist while the other folds in the space between them. It doesn’t take long after that before Tony finds himself melting into Bruce’s touch, easing into the warmth and of how it feels both familiar and new. Nothing at all like the drift, but the presence of Bruce around him now makes his nerves settle, the adrenaline fade away as if it had never been there at all. Tony mildly regrets now having not found Bruce earlier—he would be have been great help in that time after he first got the arc reactor, what with the sleepless nights and countless nightmares.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Bruce’s voice, mumbled into the curve of his shoulder. A quiet admission, one that Tony knows is intimate and personal, and he swallows at the weight of that. These heart-to-hearts are really not his thing. But he has to try, anyway. He owes Bruce this at least. 

“No pressure,” he returns, shifting a bit more so that Bruce can relax further with him, stay with him in this bed. It’s strange and unprecedented, feeling this need for him—not even the need he felt for Pepper could compare to this. Tony knows he has always been a needy person, right from the start. But this need is different, much different from what he had felt with Pepper, and this is really all new to him. Not that Tony was going to admit that right now.

Tony huffs a breath and wriggles himself more comfortably in bed. “Don’t let my roguish good looks and charming exterior fool you, I don’t do the cuddle thing much, too.”

There’s a small huff from Bruce back in return, his one filled with soft amusement. “I know,” he murmurs, and then shifts closer too, their bodies nearly touching. Tony can feel the hand that Bruce has on his stomach slowly shifting, and his thumb starts to trace small circles against him. “It’s just for tonight.”

Just for tonight. Yeah, that sounds about right. Tony hums an affirmative, closing his eyes as he soaks in the warmth and scent of his co-pilot. It’s strange—being held like this now, it does remind him a bit of what it was like in the drift. Bruce letting him in, surrounding him, enveloping him… it’s a good, nice, safe feeling. With Bruce next to him it’s easy to let go just like before, to let his mind stop for the night and simply relax and sleep…

…it’s just like drifting, really.

“Just for tonight,” he murmurs sleepily, repeating the words, and as the last syllable slips from his mouth Tony feels the exhaustion pulling him under, and he doesn’t fight against it this time round.

* * *

Once the papers are processed and Fury registers Bruce as an official Ranger again, Bruce moves into the pilot’s quarters and is formerly introduced to the other teams. There’s Rogers and Barnes with the Mark II ( _Liberty Winter_ ), Romanoff and Barton with the Mark IV ( _Black Hawk_ ) and Thor—real name Richard Blake; the nickname came back when he had been stationed in Iceland because of some story Tony couldn’t really recall except that it involved lots of alcohol—and Foster with the Mark V ( _Thunder Bridge_ ). Most of them were already acquainted with Bruce since he had treated them at one point or another, but since he’s actually a Ranger now they all take the time to properly know him beyond the fact that he’s a doctor. 

For better or for worse, they all seem to like him and find him _nice_ , and Barton remarks once how he can’t believe an asshole like him gets somebody like Bruce. Tony sticks his tongue out and blows a raspberry while Bruce does that little smile of his that says nothing at all.

The months pass by and things remain more or less the same—Tony and Bruce works to help improve the Jaegers, sometimes they go down to the scientists and help them figure out the kaiju and the breach and when a kaiju comes out from the breach they suit up and kick kaiju butt. For the most part the two of them maintain an equilibrium, respecting each other’s space more or less except for the nights after a drift where Tony lets himself into Bruce’s room and takes his bed and Bruce doesn’t kick him out and instead they curl up to sleep around each other. Tony usually wakes up before Bruce and gets back to his room and when they see each other again they don’t talk about it and move on with their lives.

And for a good while things are good—as good as it can be, and even with the ever-present threat of humanity’s extinction on the horizon Tony’s never felt better. He has Bruce and the Jaegers and the knowledge that he can keep on kicking kaiju butt and it’s all good. It’s all very good.

It is good right until it all goes to hell.

* * *

The day where everything goes wrong starts out like almost any other day—well, any other day that involves activity at the breach. It had been unexpected as well, completely off the clock; the timer showed that there wasn’t supposed to be anything for at least a week more. 

In retrospect, Tony should have figured it out then and there that something was wrong. But the suddenness of it all had caught him off guard, so he hadn’t had time to think about it, especially when Fury commanded for all of the teams to start immobilizing ASAP. Rogers and the others were already quickly making their way over to the hangar, but Tony had to run down to the kaiju labs because Bruce said he would be spending his time there with the scientists.

He steps to see Bruce already hurrying over, confusion and worry etched onto his face. “I heard the announcement.”

Tony nods. “Rogers and the rest are already suiting up. We should hurry.”

“I agree,” Bruce returns with a nod of his own and hurries out of the lab with Tony, both of them pointedly ignoring Geiszler’s parting shout of ‘try and get me some samples, you two!’ as they head up to the hangar where their Jaeger is waiting for them. It’s complete by now and functioning at 100%, the first and only model of its kind with a name Tony is always proud to say to anybody who would listen: _Gamma Arc_.

(Bruce says that the name is ridiculous. Tony personally thinks that it’s rather fantastic, thank you very much.)

They suit up in record time and get into the cockpit, swiftly hooking up into the system as Hill counts down the seconds into the drift. Tony looks over to send a small grin at Bruce as they reach the last few seconds, flashing him a thumbs up, and he sees the classic fond exasperation in return right before the drift initiates. 

Unlike their nearly-disastrous first time now drifting was nearly second nature to them. The more they did it, the easier it was, and these days now Bruce barely even feels a twinge in his chest while Tony takes the second handshake with minimal fuss. In fact their first time now seemed like something else from a lifetime ago; it was so hard to imagine that it had been so hard at first when now it was so simple, so smooth—almost as if fitting two puzzle pieces together, putting two halves of a whole. Nobody could really figure out the reason for how this worked but Tony didn’t really bother to think on it too much these days; what mattered was that they were together. That was all he needed.

“ _Neural bridge confirmed; synchronization rate standing steady at 100%,_ ” comes Hill’s voice over the intercom once they were connected. “ _Gamma Arc, you are clear for take-off._ ”

“Just what I wanted to hear,” Tony says with his usual charm and glances at Bruce. “Ready?”

“Always,” Bruce replies with a smile that never fails to send little tendrils of warmth down his spin and across their link.

Tony grins, and after that it’s easy to fall into tandem with Bruce, piloting their Jaeger together as they head towards where they’ll encounter the kaiju. The other teams were already on their way, and as they move Fury’s voice comes across the communications, sending them out information and instructions on what to do.

“ _We’ve got a Cat 3 and a Cat 4 waiting for us,_ ” he begins, “ _Hawk and Thunder, intercept the Cat 3. Gamma and Liberty, you two take the Cat 4._ ”

“I will roger that,” Tony replies, giving the signal to Bruce who nods and realigns their trajectory—the marvellous thing about Bruce’s ability is that he can take control of the Jaeger entirely when he has to. Had it been on any other Jaeger with any other pilot it would be disastrous, of course, but Tony isn’t any ordinary pilot and he’s modified Gamma Arc to handle it with good grace. This is a Jaeger that’s literally inoperable by anybody else except the two of them. 

It’s times like these where Tony loves being a genius.

At the speed they’re going, it doesn’t take long before they catch up to Rogers and Barnes, who waits for them while the kaiju is only a minute or two away from reaching where they stand. 

“ _The golden duo arrives,_ ” comes the wry voice of Barnes once they meet up.

“You and Rogers are perfectly free to stand at the side-lines and look pretty while we take care of things here,” Tony quips back without pause. He knows that Barnes doesn’t mean it, but it’s not hard to feel the sting behind those words—he knows that his and Bruce’s rise to fame hasn’t been taken well by many people. Tony has always been loathed by most of the general populace so he can take it, but Bruce… he doesn’t say it, but Tony knows that he’s affected by what people think of him. He can always feel the worry when they’re in the drift.

Rogers’s voice cuts through his thoughts. “ _Alright, no more quarrelling. We’ve got ETA in less than one minute and we don’t want to be caught off guard._ ”

Barnes lets out a small snort, but relents anyway. “ _Got it, Captain._ ”

“ _Tony and I are ready,_ ” Bruce says in affirmation, since Tony knows that he knows about Tony’s avoidance of Rogers. They’ve gotten better since he and Bruce became co-pilots, but it’s still hard to not want to punch his face when they’re together. Some old habits are hard to shake.

It doesn’t take long after Bruce’s words to hear the sounds of the kaiju approaching—there’s the sound of the ocean breaking apart with each step the kaiju takes, the echo of the waves following each move they make. A roar sounds out, dangerously close, and it’s only a matter of moments before the battle begins. Tony feels himself tense, ready to spring into action and Bruce is right behind him, knowing that it’s up to them to make this work.

The tense silence breaks when the kaiju comes into view, roaring as it stomps through the ocean, its vision already set on both Jaegers. Tony doesn’t waste another second and immediately launches into action, Bruce at his side as Gamma Arc comes into the fray. The Jaeger steps forward, covering Rogers and Barnes as they pilot Liberty Winter to charge head on at the kaiju. Bruce acts before Tony can think about it, raising one hand to reveal the giant repulsor set in its palm and fires it without hesitation.

Tony watches as the attack hits its mark, clipping the kaiju on its shoulder and grins at its resulting howl of pain. Yeah, it was certainly time to show them who was the real boss around here. Being able to get on the field again and kick some kaiju butt never stopped being awesome even though it had already been months since the first time.

Rogers and Barnes takes their cue from there and goes toe to toe against the kaiju, fighting it at close quarters while they take the long-range option. It’s a good tactic, one they’ve pulled off many times in other battles and it works well because Rogers and Barnes are the ones who are actually trained in this, not them. Tony knew more about Jaegers than actual combat while Bruce had never been a fighter—only became one through circumstance. As much as Tony isn’t fond of Rogers, he’s willing to let the guy take the lead in these things.

The battle goes on as well as expected—Liberty Winter keeps the kaiju distracted with close combat while Gamma Arc continues to fire off repulsor blasts strategically aimed to weaken the kaiju with every hit. It doesn’t take too long before the kaiju is staggering, and Tony knows that a few more blows will finish it off for good.

In fact, Rogers and Barnes were just going to deal that last blow they need when Romanoff’s voice suddenly comes through the intercom, her words interrupted with constant bursts of static. “ _Gamma… Liberty… danger…_ ”

“ _What?_ ” Rogers, of course, and Liberty Winter stills for a moment.

There’s a brief pause—a worrying one—before Romanoff speaks again. “ _Unexpected… ambush… careful… heading… way…_ ”

“More kaiju?” Bruce mutters, concerned and Tony glances over at him with a frown of his own. They were good in short-term combat, yes, but as the fight dragged on it was going to tax them more, especially Bruce where the double handshake took a lot out of him. There were many times after the battle where Bruce would simply return to his room and collapse on his bed, only stirring when Tony came to his room and joined him as he always would after every drift they did together. It had been just kind of a _thing_ at first, really, but now it just felt wrong if he didn’t do it and Tony doesn’t really know how to feel about that. Sometimes his attachment to Bruce felt so intense it did nothing but terrify him.

Rogers’s voice brings him out from his thoughts. “ _Whatever it is, we have to be careful, especially if it managed to take out Hawk and Thunder—_ ” He cuts off suddenly then, but neither of them have to ask to know what’s happened; right after he stops talking there’s a loud crash near them, and Tony sees Liberty Winter literally blown to the side, the Jaeger lying in a crumpled heap.

Tony barely has any time to process what’s happening before the radar beeps in warning, and it’s only because of Bruce that they manage to avoid the energy blast that nearly clips the shoulder of Gamma Arc. Tony doesn’t hesitate to return the attack with one of their own, letting out a repulsor blast in the direction of where the attack had come from.

He had imagined a number of possibilities of what would happen—a miss, a hit, something in-between—but what he didn’t expect was the appearance of a barrier, coming from nowhere and taking the blast with minimal fuss. Tony froze in surprise after that, along with Bruce, willing himself to not take a step back as a figure loomed into view. 

It was a kaiju; specifically, the Category 3 kaiju that the others were supposed to take out but apparently had not. It was moving towards them, and for a moment Tony felt that something was different but couldn’t place it what it was until Bruce said it. “It’s not making any noise.” No roaring or growling or any of the standard kaiju noises it would make when approaching them—yeah, it was certainly strange alright, although that certainly didn’t make it any less of a danger.

Tony took a moment to debate on what to do next. Retreating wasn’t an option, not when the others were most likely incapacitated. Retreating now would be the same as leaving them to die, and Tony had enough death on his hands to add more to the list; he knew that Bruce felt the same, too. The next option, then, was to see how said others were faring and see if there was something they could do to turn this battle around. 

Liberty Winter might be the oldest of the Jaegers, but it was also durable as hell and there was a possibility that Rogers and Barnes were alright and just playing possum. Tony started to direct a line over to them, but any attempt was met with static and then a voice suddenly sounded out to them.

“Being this close to Jörmungandr jams any of your pesky human signals. You won’t get to anybody no matter how you try, Rangers.”

He heard Bruce suck in a breath beside him, and through their link came forth the question that was in both of their minds. _Who is that?_

The kaiju continued to move forward towards them, and now at this distance Tony could notice that one of its palms was raised and opened flat, as if supporting something in its hand. A quick zoom revealed to him that what the kaiju had in its palm was actually a _human_. The human was pale and somewhat tall, with slicked back hair, sharp green eyes and a wicked smile that did not promise anything good. In his hand held a sceptre-like object with a glowing blue gem set at the top; in the darkness of the night it shone a dangerous, brilliant cosmic blue.

 _…I’m going to guess that’s a bad thing,_ Bruce remarks through their link.

Tony was already running through commands in the Jaeger as he replies. _Guy standing in the palm of a kaiju, grinning at us like we’re fresh meat with a weird sceptre in his hand; of course it’s not a good thing._ He sends in the last command to the system and reaches over to Bruce mentally. _Let’s try and end this quick. You ready?_

 _As much as I’ll ever be._ Tony nods when he hears that, readying himself and making sure that Bruce is in position as well beside him before they burst into action. The thrusters on the back of Gamma Arc flare to life as the Jaeger moves, and the ocean swishes around violently as they dash towards the kaiju and its human companion with boosted speed. As they move they raise the Jaeger’s hands and let out a volley of repulsor blasts, striking everywhere in the general vicinity of where the kaiju is, every hit causing water to splash and steam rising everywhere due to the heat of the blasts.

Once they’re close enough Tony activates the thrusters to full capacity, and they burn with enough force to send Gamma Arc soaring into the air. Bruce easily manipulates the Jaeger to hit the right trajectory while Tony draws up the repulsors again, and as they get close he starts them up, ready to fire—

The sceptre flares out once and Tony grunts as he finds Gamma Arc being flung back, crashing into the sea just like how Liberty Winter was. Beside him Bruce lets out a pained sound as well, obviously having felt the g-force working against him—one of the drawbacks to piloting a Jaeger this large. 

Taking a moment to give some mental support to Bruce with their connection, Tony starts to get up along with his co-pilot—only to stop before he can even try to start moving as he finds his entire body seemingly locked in place. Based on the pained grunt from Bruce next to him, he can safely deduce that the same thing is happening to him as well. Tony wonders if it’s also what affecting the others too as he attempts to push against the strange force holding him in place, teeth gritting as he tries it, but it’s like trying to move a goddamn wall and Tony is forced to give up after a while. A laugh echoes around not soon after that, low and amused and quite evil-sounding, if Tony had to say anything about it.

“How the mighty have fallen,” the voice speaks once more, and it’s so clear that Tony almost swears he’s hearing it in his head if it wasn’t for the fact that his eardrums seem to tingle with every word. “And how they have fallen indeed.”

Snark is always Tony Stark’s best weapon against unknown situations, and it’s something Tony doesn’t hesitate to employ since he doesn’t have much else to lose. “Gate-crashing a party is so last century, you realize,” he says. “Not that people do parties anymore, I think. Kind of ruins that whole ‘end of the world’ theme we have going on these days.”

All he hears in response is a low, amused chuckle, and it’s very much not the good kind. “You think you can win this fight just because of your new toy?” the voice asks, the smooth baritone doing nothing to hide the dark promise that lies in it. “You’re only delaying the inevitable. Humanity will fall, and when they do this world will be a better place.”

“I notice that you seem to be excluding yourself from the rest of us.” Delay, delay, delay. He needs to buy time while Bruce working beside him—thank god he has an equally smart man for a co-pilot.

There’s a pause, and through the magnifier of the Jaeger’s vision Tony can see a smirk forming on the face of the man holding the sceptre. A clear confirmation that he was the one talking, instead of the deductive guesses he had been making. His totally correct deductive guesses too, mind.

“I have seen many things,” he starts, “And what I have seen puts me far beyond the rest of you. When this world is cleansed I will rise up here and become the new god.”

Great, just what he needed to complete his day. A complete megalomaniac with a god-complex. Clearly he’s one of those kaiju-nuts who had _really_ gone off his rocker. Tony manages to resist the urge to roll his eyes, although it’s a close thing. “God of what? Rocks and saltwater? Because that is totally worth ruling over.”

The man’s eyes flash then, almost as if he’s just hit a nerve and Tony almost feels good about that, but then his expression shifts there’s a sudden upward curl in his smile that Tony really, _really_ doesn’t like. 

“Enough prattle,” he says, and the sceptre in his hand starts to glow. Tony tries to urge Bruce to hurry as the man steps forward, the smile twisting into a vicious grin and the dread in his gut only grows worse. “I will show you what true fear is really like, human.” He points the glowing blue end of the sceptre right towards Tony as soon as he’s said that. Tony watches the sceptre flare—and then it all goes to hell.

All at once a thousand images and voices assault his mind, all of them recognizable, all of them familiar. He knows every one of them because they haunt him in every waking hour, every night right before he goes to sleep like ghosts that never fade. All of his failures, his screw-ups, his mistakes and the lives that weigh on his mind—they all come at once in a rush. It’s almost like drifting, except in a very bad way and had Tony been a better man he would have been affected by it.

But Tony has never considered himself as a good man, even before the kaijus appeared in this world, before the world changed and began to break apart and everything he once knew no longer applied in this new world. His regrets and memories have always affected him but he knows how to not let them affect him here, not after spending all of his drifts distancing and closing himself as well as others off. Not until Bruce.

Tony closes his eyes and slowly shuts off the voices and the images, tuning them out one by one until he can come to himself again, no longer trapped in the vortex of his own nightmare. The voices fade away, as do the images, but as they disappear new ones come in, and it takes a moment for Tony to recognize where they’re coming from.

Bruce.

He snaps his eyes open, and when he does it’s to the sound and sight of Bruce screaming out loud.

The scream doesn’t just happen physically—it burns in his mind, through the link they still have, and with that link Tony can see the things that keep their grip on Bruce so strongly. He sees death and destruction and guilt so much worse than his, far more intense. Tony sees the memories like the first time he witnessed them, the intensity of the emotions behind each and every one of them. So much guilt and pain and rage, every of those feelings the backbone of the second handshake that makes Bruce Banner such an incredible and also such a dangerous man at the same time.

Tony knows that trying to call for Bruce physically now wasn’t going to work, so he delves deep inside, going through their connection, calling for Bruce to come back as Tony reaches for him all the way into the deepest corners of his mind. 

When he manages to find where Bruce he’s greeted with darkness. Dark because the lights aren’t on and the only source of light that’s available is the moonlight streaming through the tattered windowpane at one side of the room. And even then, this place feels dimmer than it should rightly be. Tony finds himself nearly groping in said darkness as he slowly makes his way around, every breath he lets out echoing in this strange place.

“Bruce?” he calls out softly, wondering where he might be in this place, or if Tony even managed to get to the right place—the neural links have never been something he was good at. If anything, this was more of Bruce’s area of expertise, especially considering his condition.

—and perhaps it was thinking of Bruce that helped him here, because no sooner had he thought about that Tony heard the sound of sobs coming from nearby. He quickly made his way towards that sound, concern coming up as he tries to think of how to get them out of this situation. This is a RABIT and Tony knows that, and while the two of them are usually able to not fall into it, this time was…

Tony stops in his thoughts when his next step comes with a sound of his foot stepping on something liquid and watery. A strong, familiar smell assaults his nose, and Tony has to take a deep breath before he can make himself look down and see exactly what he’s stepping on now.

Blood. So much blood.

Tony grimaces at the sight, knowing full well what he’s stepping into—he’s felt the emotions and know Bruce’s life story front to back already, after all. This whole sight, the sensation of it… there’s a reason why Bruce always tried to keep himself so strictly under lock and key, and Tony knows it. 

He looks back up, and sees that the place has turned darker, more violent. There’s a greenish hue that’s settled over everything Tony sees now, and it doesn’t take a genius to know that it’s a bad thing. Tony sees the blood continuing to pool across the floor and follows it, his steps soon taking him to the source of it. The dead body of a woman, lying cold and silent on the tiled floor, a pool of blood surrounding her. 

Tony has seen many dead bodies in his life by now—a good number of which still haunt him to this day—but this is one that perhaps sticks in his mind quite a lot because of what it means to Bruce. After all, it’s not every day when you see your own mother murdered right before your eyes.

Any other thought that Tony might have had after that was quickly pushed away as another sob echoes out from nearby once more. Tony gives the body of Rebecca Banner one more glance before he steps over her and makes his way to the small figure right next to the body—a figure that Tony recognizes instantly, because its ingrained in his mind and fixed in his memories now, especially after all these months of being in the drift with Bruce.

“Bruce,” he says the name as he drops down, crouching, making sure he can see and reach for Bruce on an equal level now while Bruce is stuck in the memory of his childhood self. He does it because he knows what’s going to happen next through the memories they have shared in the drift. He knows, which is why he has to get Bruce out _now_ before things get worse from where they are right now. “Bruce. Listen to me. This is just a memory. This isn’t real. You know it isn’t real, Bruce—”

A shadow suddenly looms over them both. Tony hears Bruce’s breath catch, both inside the memory and out.

No time to waste now. Tony tries to press onward, attempting to reach for Bruce in their connection and in his trapped memory before it’s too late. “Bruce. Bruce. I know you’re stronger than this. Don’t follow the RABIT, Bruce. This is just a memory. You can get out of this, Bruce. I know you can. None of this is real.”

For a moment some part of Bruce seems to register Tony’s words, because Tony swears he can see something of a reaction from Bruce—but the moment passes too quickly before he can properly register it, and in the next moment Bruce is making the most pained, hurt sounds Tony has ever heard as a large hand grabs his hair and wrenches him up from his spot on the floor.

“ _This_ ,” growls the voice of Brian Banner, his voice too monstrous and twisted for it to be normal—most likely a result of Bruce’s own flawed perception, and the darkness that forever haunts this memory. “This is all your fault. Because of you she became weak. Because of you she lost herself. Because of you she’s gone now.”

Tony can do nothing but watch as Brian shakes his son violently by the grip on his hair, unable to do nothing else but stay at the side and remain helpless as Bruce lets out another pained sound far too broken for it to belong to a mere child.

“You ruined all of us,” Brian continues to snarl out, nothing but hatred and disgust in his voice. “If you hadn’t been born, then none of this would have happened. It’s the curse you brought down on us. You should have never existed.”

If he could right there and then, Tony would have went up and punched the living daylights out of Bruce’s father. What he knew of Brian Banner it was only through Bruce’s memories and the few documents about him he dug out in the last few months—former scientist, retired and then married before Bruce came into their lives. After that he became a serial alcoholic and remained so until his death in prison a few years later after the incident which effectively made Bruce and orphan. Tony, at least, had the fortune of parents—not the best ones, but at least they had been around in a way, and also had never done something like this. It was the most brutal and violent way Tony had seen an adult treat his own child, so inhumane this entire thing was. Even he couldn’t help but think how painful this all was.

But as it was, he could only be a spectator of this memory, nothing more. The best he could do was to be the voice in Bruce’s mind that told him to _wake up_ and shake off this memory before Bruce got too deep and lost himself entirely—there was no telling what would happen then. 

“Bruce,” Tony tries again, “Bruce, don’t lose yourself to the memory. Shake it off! _Bruce_!”

There was no response from Bruce—nothing else but silence as he let himself be pulled up by the monster that was his father, chest stuttering with hitching breaths that Tony knew were held back sobs and tears. He was trying to keep himself quiet, not wanting to give his father more reasons to do anything to him, but apparently even the lack of anything was more than enough for Brian to take action.

“You shouldn’t have been born,” he says once more, the darkness seemingly looming ever closer. “And I’ll make you pay for what you’ve done to my family.”

His grip turns tight then, utterly violent, and from in the next moment there’s a loud slam and the rattle of metal as Bruce is thrown to the wall. Bruce lets out a cry as his back meets the tiles, and Tony can easily imagine the pain wrecking through his body as Bruce slides down to the floor in a crumpled heap, so broken and battered and even watching this happening just hurts, even as a memory. Was this actually what happened in real life to him? It’s so hard to imagine—but then Tony does know full well how terrible humans can be sometimes. 

Tony wishes he could reach out here, help somehow, but he’s just a spectre in this memory, just the voice in Bruce’s head and he can only to keep on shouting for Bruce to not lose himself in this memory no matter how bad it is. It’s just a memory, a thing of the past. Nothing he sees now can change what happened. Tony knows that for a fact.

“Bruce—” He starts one more time, but can’t say anything past his name once Brian picks his son back up and pins him onto the wall with a hand around Bruce’s small neck. 

“This is your fault,” Brian says once more, and this time his voice is laced with a clear intent to kill. “If it wasn’t for you, none of this would have happened.” The grip around Bruce’s neck tightens up with every word he speaks, slowly strangling and choking his own son to death. It’s a terrible sight, only made worse when Bruce’s need for survival forces him to start struggling in a desperate bid to fight back, legs kicking uselessly as his arms flail and grip on his father’s arm, trying to pry him off.

It’s only a matter of time before things get to the point of no return. Tony calls out louder now, almost desperate in his pleas. “This isn’t real! This is just a memory! Don’t lose yourself! Bruce!”

Bruce continues to struggle, to kick and pull and tug and battling for the sake of his own life—but that is where the danger really starts to happen. Being with Bruce for these last few months has allowed Tony to understand the basics of what triggers Bruce’s double handshake condition. It is a fact that Bruce’s condition is the result of whatever happened to him back then; but more than that there are a few things that tie into it. Emotions are one, which is why Bruce always has to keep himself level. Physical reactions are another thing as well—but one of the chief factors is the instinct of survival, which Tony knows is being triggered now.

It’s like flicking on the light switch or something—one moment things still look relatively normal (or as normal as a scenario like this could be), and then in the next moment everything is suddenly _not_ okay at all. There’s nothing but green in his vision, the colours sharp and vivid, the sear of it burning through him like poison. Tony grits his teeth as he winces, attempting to see through the light. As soon as his eyes manage to adjust somewhat Tony can see the figure of Bruce and his father again, still locked in the same position as earlier. Well, almost the same.

He can see it—Bruce is no longer struggling like earlier, but then it now gives into something much more dangerous. Tony sees as Bruce’s eyes turn from its usual colour to the bright green that comes every time he starts the second handshake, except right now it doesn’t help but only hurt. Through their link Tony can feel the power blazing through his mind, his whole body—it’s like nothing he had ever felt before in the months they had been together, and Bruce was already dangerous with his condition. This only makes it much worse.

Outside of the memory he can hear the alarm system of the Jaeger starting to ring, and JARVIS’s voice is warning him about overloads and other related things. Tony ignores it at first, knowing that the Jaeger could handle it—it was made with the intention to handle extreme levels of neural energies, after all—but then the alarms become much more insistent and the words Tony hears next freezes him to the core. “ _Repulsor cannon engaged. Target lock: the Shatterdome._ ”

 _Shit shit shit._ The RABIT must have made Bruce do it unintentionally, and now the violence of his memory was going to make him do something he was going to regret for the rest of his life. More than ever, Tony knew he had to stop this before it was really too late for any of them.

He turns his attention back to Bruce and starts to all but shout at him, voice edging on near desperation. “Bruce! Bruce, listen to me! This is all just a memory! It isn’t real! You need to stop now! _Bruce!_ ”

Try as he might, Bruce doesn’t seem to hear the words at all. The green in his eyes flare ever brighter, and outside the lights are flashing in warning. In the chaos Tony hears the voice of Nick Fury coming through the communications, voice understandably irritated and confused. “ _Would you tell me what the hell is going in there, Stark? Why is your Jaeger pointing its cannon towards us?_ ”

Tony knows that there’s really no way to hide this at all, and grits his teeth while he forces the words out. “A hostile triggered a RABIT in Bruce. I’ve been trying to get him out of it, but nothing’s working. He isn’t doing any of this consciously.”

There’s a loud swear from Fury at that. “ _Can’t you disable the weapons from inside?_ ”

“You think I wouldn’t do that if I could?” Tony snaps back in agitation. “Bruce has complete control of the Jaeger’s weapons systems right now—his double handshake is what powers most of the Jaeger in the first place. I can’t stop it from here without risking permanent damage.” And god, the last thing Tony wants is for Bruce to get hurt because of this. None of this was his fault as well, and yet—this was really, really bad. He had to do something before the cannon fired—

“ _Repulsor cannon current charge at ninety percent. Estimate fire time in twenty… nineteen…_ ”

“ _Stark!_ ” Fury roars through the communications now, and Tony knows he has to do something right now. The countdown continues and Tony racks his brain, trying to figure out some way, anyway—anything that could stop all of this. _Think, Tony, think! What can you do to disable the Jaeger_ — 

—of course. 

“JARVIS, relinquish controls of Gamma Arc to the Shatterdome.” He should have done that when this started in the first place. The only reason he hadn’t thought about it because he didn’t like Fury and his men having any part of this particular Jaeger. This one was different from the others he had made—this one was much more personal, much like the first suit he had made all those years ago. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and he could always build a new Jaeger when it came down to it. Jaegers could be remade—but not Bruce.

A panel pops up on his screen when the transfer is complete, and Tony quickly speaks up before Fury can start asking him questions on what he was doing. “Tell JARVIS to put in protocol Whisky Tango Foxtrot. Enable shutdown and disconnection of all current Jaegers linked to the Shatterdome. The cannon shouldn’t fire then.”

There’s a brief pause from Fury, but Tony knows it’s less for Bruce now and more for Tony—because Tony knows that he’s just shown his hand in those words. The fact that he had a protocol for shutting down all the Jaegers isn’t going to just fly by Fury like that, and Tony knows that there’ll be repercussions later. But for now, Bruce is far more important. Bruce has enough on his conscience now as it is; anymore and there’s no telling what Bruce might do.

“Fury,” Tony nearly growls out the name as the count for the repulsor cannon counts to its final seconds in the background.

“ _Hill!_ ” Fury shouts from his own end.

“ _Five… four… three… two…_ ”

“ _Deactivation sequence entered,_ ” comes Hill’s voice from a third channel.

“ _One… Whiskey Tango Foxtrot protocol engaged. Jaeger deactivation sequence activated. Initiating Gamma Arc sequential shutdown._ ” 

Tony has never felt more relieved in his life up until now. He all but slumps in his spot as the lights of the Jaeger power down one by one, switching off slowly as it releases all of its excess energy. Tony looks back through the neural link and sees that the green has faded from Bruce’s memory, and Bruce—now back to his normal look again—is slumped against the wall, the look in his eyes far off and distant and looking at it hurts Tony in a way he didn’t think he could be hurt.

He moves the moment the connectors attached to him get released. Tony removes his helmet and quickly goes to Bruce who was just two steps beside him but yet so far at the same time. He manages to get there right before the connectors release Bruce as well, and Tony catches him in his arms before Bruce can collapse onto the floor. He stumbles a little from the weight, but reorients himself soon after and slowly brings them both to the ground properly, Bruce still nothing more than dead weight in his arms. 

Once they’re on the floor Tony goes to take out Bruce’s helmet, tossing it carelessly to the side and gets a good look at Bruce. He’s unconscious now, which is a good thing, because at least it’s an indication that he managed to disconnect from the link successfully and without any damage. The length in where he had to keep up the double handshake this time must have utterly exhausted him.

“Bruce,” he breathes out the name as he pulls Bruce close to him, resting the other’s head on his shoulder as he runs a careful hand through his sweaty hair. Bruce is still unconscious and pretty much everything about this mission is an outright disaster—not to mention the stuff he’s going to have to face later—but Bruce is okay. Bruce is alright, as much as he can be, and that is all that Tony needs right now. Anything else can wait. 

Everything else is replaceable, but not Bruce. There can never be anybody else like Bruce Banner.

* * *

The entire mission is, of course, a disaster, to say the least. In the whole chaos of Bruce’s RABIT the hostile had gotten away with no way to determine where he had went to. Not to mention the things that Tony had been forced to reveal to Fury during the incident as well. In the days after the whole thing and many talks later with Fury, a decision eventually came. The result: a one month suspension from active service. 

Tony supposes he should be glad that it wasn’t worse.

Bruce had to be hospitalized following their return from the field the other day. Tony had gone to see him almost every day when he was able to, but in the end Bruce had woken up while Tony was stuck with Fury. After that Bruce had requested that he didn’t want to see anybody—not even Tony—and it would be a lie if that action wasn’t quite painful to Tony. They had been through a lot, after all, and with that last incident… Tony knew now more than ever that he couldn’t lose Bruce. There was nobody else who could replace Bruce, and without him Tony wasn’t sure what he could do. It had been so long since he could take to the field again like this and that was thanks to Bruce. Things had been going so well until the mission… what could he do to make it alright again?

It was a question that constantly haunts Tony during his suspension, coming to him at every waking moment regardless of where he is and what he’s doing. In the workshop, at the canteen, in his room… he never stops thinking about it. Hard to stop himself either, when Bruce continued to refuse seeing anybody even after his eventual release from the infirmary. All he did was to hold himself up in his room and stay out of everyone’s sight. The only way anybody knew he was around were the update and statuses that Fury required for him to submit along with some of the little things that only Tony noticed—missing tools from his workbench, some programs that were still running in the care of JARVIS—things like that. If anything, at least it was a sign that Bruce was still around, even if he wasn’t entirely fine.

At first he did do his best to ignore the insistent voice at the back of his mind and allowed Bruce his own time and space and everything else, but as the days stretched on and there was still no proper sign of Bruce beyond the running programs and moved items, the voice became much more insistent and Tony was honestly reaching at the end of all the patience he had managed to build up. There was only so long he could wait—the kaijus loom closer with every passing day and they were going to have to be put back to the field once their month-long suspension was up. If things continued to go the way they were now, Tony was pretty sure that they weren’t going to be able to drift with each other anymore, and that was the last thing that Tony wanted now.

Sure, other people might have reconsidered their options after the disaster of the last mission, but Tony wasn’t going to do that. He _knew_ that Bruce could handle it even after what happened. As strange as it was, Tony could put his trust in Bruce. There was only one person right now in the entire Shatterdome (if not the world) who could pilot a Jaeger with him, and Tony wasn’t going to lose that. He didn’t want to start over. He didn’t think he would be able to, especially after coming to know Bruce.

As much as he knows that it’s a bad idea to force his way in, Tony has always been the master of bad ideas that should never really be followed. It’s why despite knowing otherwise Tony places himself right outside the door of Bruce’s room (he had asked JARVIS to notify him when Bruce left his room), staying there stubbornly and refusing to budge even when Bruce returns from his late meal in the canteen and is now giving Tony a look that usually bodes nothing else but bad things in general.

“Tony,” he begins softly, both a question and a demand in his voice at the same time. Again, other people might have reconsidered, but Tony wasn’t like other people.

All he does instead is to simply cross his arms and return Bruce’s look with one of his own. “I haven’t seen you for nearly a month already, Bruce.”

Tony watches as Bruce sucks his bottom lip between his teeth, worrying them absently as he casts a glance down towards the floor. “I’ve been busy,” is all that he says in response.

“That doesn’t mean you have to avoid me entirely,” Tony shoots back, and it’s not hard to see the way Bruce flinches at the answer, the words hitting straight where it hurt. Tony usually takes delight in shooting down his competition like this, but with Bruce just having to say it out hurts—but he also knows he has to do this. Sure, it would still be pretty bad if he avoided the others as well, but the fact that he closed himself off from even Tony did hurt him quite a bit. They were partners, after all, pilots of the same Jaeger. They knew each other so intricately now, as well-versed with each other as they would with their right hand. There was no reason why Bruce needed to distance himself away from him like this; they had already drifted together and fought together and went through so much together. Why did he had to put himself away from others like this just became of one incident that wasn’t even his fault in the first place?

It takes a long while, but eventually Bruce responds, voice softer than before. “I’m not avoiding you.”

Tony can’t help but scoff at those words. “Really? Because I couldn’t really see that.” If _this_ wasn’t avoiding, then what the hell could he call this?

Bruce, though, doesn’t seem like he’s in the mood for much smarm and looks back up to Tony with a small scowl on his face. “What do you want, Tony?” He sounds tired, exhausted, spent. Tony wishes he knew what he could actually do to help. He’s barely functional by himself, let alone being functional enough to help anybody else.

So Tony just does the only thing he knows what to do when it comes to a situation like this. He straightens himself and jerks a thumb back to the corridor behind them, giving Bruce a pointed look. “I was thinking we could go for a spar. You know, to get the mojo going again.” Neither of them were strictly fighters in the way Rogers or Barnes or Thor was, but they were required to have some degree of knowledge in fighting in order to operate their Jaeger. And to be honest Tony was never really want to believe in the whole ‘fighting each other’ spiel he had been subjected to before, but he can’t really think of anything else he can say to get Bruce out of his shell.

Of course Tony is obviously aware of the fact that Bruce knows what he knows, and it shows through the uncertain look that Bruce is giving him. Tony stands his ground though, not willing to back down this time round. He gave Bruce more than enough time to stay in his room and mope about things; with only a week left before they were deployed back out to the field again, Tony knows that they need to get their shit together again. Fury wasn’t going to give them another chance to screw up after the last mission.

A couple of minutes pass as Bruce continues to look at him, but Tony keeps up as well and doesn’t break his gaze from Bruce, looking straight at him and showing just how serious he was about this. For a brief moment Tony wondered if Bruce was still going to back away and keep to himself, but those doubts were dispelled when Bruce closed his eyes and sighed out loud. “Alright,” he muttered while running a hand through his hair. “Just give me ten minutes to get ready.”

Tony manages to control his expressions before he can give away his relief, but it’s a near thing. “I’ll meet you in the room when you’re ready,” he says and walks back to his room just next to where Bruce is. He’s already prepared his things, of course, having never taken no for an answer in the first place, and so only takes a minute to change into some sweatpants and one of his singlets before grabbing his things and making his way over to the sparring room.

The place is empty when he arrives, a fact that brings Tony some relief—it would have been pretty awkward if people like Barton was around—and he goes to claim the center arrangement of mats, placing his stuff down at the side. Bruce still hasn’t come yet, so Tony uses the time to do some warm ups, getting himself ready for what would happen later. He does work out a little, but he’s still not a fighter at all, and the last thing he wants are sprained muscles. They always impede his work.

Going through the motions, Tony just finishes up his final stretches when Bruce finally steps into the room. He’s changed as well, going for a sweats and a loose t-shirt Tony was pretty sure he hadn’t worn for ages. It’s a bit strange to see him in something that wasn’t a collared shirt and long pants, but then again Bruce was usually more comfortable in being at the side-lines and in the lab. It was only because of Tony that he went out there to fight.

…and fuck, it was hard to not feel guilty now when he thought about that. Tony was well aware of how much Bruce hated violence, but yet here he was dragged out to fight a war he had never intended to take part in. He couldn’t really understand it at first, but now, perhaps, he could see why Bruce was content enough in playing doctor even though he could have done so much more. There was only so much death one could see in a lifetime before he got sick and tired of it. And along with his condition… it was not hard to imagine what Bruce felt now.

The fact that he didn’t even realize this until this moment sickens Tony too. Now that he can actually understand, it just feels so… horrible. For Tony he had always known violence, lived with it really because of his father and his claim to fame in the weapons industry. But Bruce had been nothing but a simple scientist, doing nothing but trying to help, wanting to aid with his research into the neural systems of the Jaegers—but in doing so doomed himself and his own life. Thinking about it now, it just didn’t feel fair at all. What had he been thinking when he got Bruce to do this? 

Maybe this had been a mistake from the start.

Tony debates for a moment if he should just call this off, tell Bruce that he shouldn’t even bother at all, but Bruce is already standing before Tony, finally facing him for once after avoiding him for so long and he didn’t want to lose that. He didn’t want to cheapen this moment. That wouldn’t be fair to Bruce either.

He takes a deep breath instead and readies himself, letting out his breath in a slow exhale as he looks over to Bruce. “You okay?” he asks, wanting to make sure. He doesn’t want to push Bruce any more than he already has.

Bruce nods. “Yeah,” he says in return, and takes a deep breath of his own before raising his arms and getting into position. Tony does the same as well, and the two of them stare at each other in the eye as the world fades, taking a step back as they wait for each other to make the first move. 

It’s hard to say exactly how long it is before either of them actually get into action. For Tony it felt like both a moment and an eternity at the same time, time as it was suspended while they faced one another. But that breaks as soon as he sees a twitch on Bruce’s shoulder and Tony lets his instincts guide him, striking forward just as Bruce moves back, putting distance between them.

Not surprising, of course—Tony knows full well how Bruce fights; always on the defensive until he finds an opening. Bruce fights to disable people so that he can make his escape, something he had to learn while living out in the world. It’s a huge contrast to Tony and his many instructors in the past, but that too is just something that makes them special. While they might be different in this area, in so many others they are much more similar, and at the bottom line Tony thinks they can be almost identical.

He could think about that later, though, after this spar with Bruce. Tony takes another strike forward, going on the offensive while Bruce keeps up his defence. They match strike with strike, every one of Tony’s jabs or punches blocked or dodged with quick precision. Bruce hasn’t tried a counterattack just yet, but Tony knows it’s just a matter of time. Bruce isn’t the kind of guy to just keep taking the hits and let himself be driven to a corner.

“So,” he starts even while they fight, because any notion of Tony ever being able to keep his mouth shut is an entirely false one. “What _have_ you been up to lately?”

Tony is hardly surprised when Bruce doesn’t answer him, only focused on keeping up with their spar—and its times like these Tony thinks he really should try to take proper charge and get Bruce to lighten up. Well, he usually was able to, but he’s been spending more time moping and brooding in the last three weeks. There’s only so long he can keep that up, really. 

Not one to give up that easily, Tony just allows himself to keep on running his mouth, still talking while they fight. “Well, I guess fair’s fair. I’ll start first then and you can tell me what you’ve been doing after that. So after that disaster with the guy holding the Spear of Destiny I’ve been fixing up Gamma Arc. Y’know, our Jaeger. I’ve improved the neural filters and put a balance to the controls, so that in case any of us are in danger the other can take control and use the excess neural output as a stand in for the missing party until things are resolved.” It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Bruce—far from it—but after the whole fiasco he needed a backup to ensure that things weren’t going to go sideways like they had the last time. Tony was pretty sure that Fury wasn’t going to appreciate a round two of the incident, either. 

Bruce still doesn’t respond, but Tony can see his jaw tensing up, expression hardening just slightly and he knows that right now Bruce is doing that thing where he’s blaming himself again. Which is the _last_ thing he wants Bruce to go through, because it wasn’t his fault at all. Even if the rest of the Shatterdome might be blaming Bruce (and thus Tony by proxy, because they always like a reason to blame Tony) Tony would still stand by Bruce’s side and tell him otherwise because that was the truth. Neither of them had accounted for this. Tony knew that Bruce was stronger than that and with his control he never would get stuck with the RABIT. It was that guy—whoever that asshole was—who caused Bruce to end up in that state in the first place. It was all on that guy. Tony just wishes that he could make Bruce see that, too.

“I’ve been meaning to do that for a while already,” he continues to say, hoping that he can show Bruce the real meaning of his words. He’s good with words when it comes with the public and the media, but this is different—this is Bruce, the guy who’s been in his head and still sticks with him even after all that he’s seen and experienced. Bruce who puts up with everything he does and sometimes even joins him. Bruce who does the strangest things like thanking JARVIS and used to ask Tony if he could use every single piece of equipment that he picks up in the lab and does that little duck of his head that Tony can only describe as ‘charming avoidance’. 

Somehow Tony finds it so hard now to imagine his days without Bruce, that he had lived so long _without_ Bruce in the first place. It’s only been a few months since they started this partnership but somehow it feels like it’s been forever as well. Tony honestly can’t see himself in a future without Bruce at his side—and the fact that he even _thinks_ that is terrifying too, for reasons Tony doesn’t want to face right now. He can think about it later (if he dared to) after all of this is done, once Bruce is willing to stick with him once again. It’s strange how he’s been in Bruce’s head and yet doesn’t really know what Bruce will do after this.

Too many thoughts coming to him yet again. Tony mentally dislodges them and keeps on the offensive, refusing to relent in his attack just as he refuses to give up on Bruce. The whole world might think they couldn’t do it but Tony has always been one who wants to go against the odds, to show everyone that he _can_ because he’s fucking Tony Stark. He does a lot of things just because he can.

There’s not much space for Bruce to move around now; it’s coming close to letting Tony have the match or fighting back, and Tony wants to push Bruce into the latter. He lunges forward and attempts to distract Bruce with a jab before striking with a punch with his other hand. Bruce backs away again, trying still to put more space between them but Tony quickly closes it up once more and keeps on pushing forward, maintaining his flurry of attacks, never once giving Bruce an edge. 

A few more advances and now Bruce is right at the edge of the mats. Tony scowls a bit, letting Bruce see his displeasure, feel it as he gives Bruce a look and tries to taunt him. “C’mon, Banner,” he says, doing whatever he can to provoke Bruce—he doesn’t like this Bruce who just gives up and lets everything strike him down. He _knows_ that Bruce is better than that, could be so much more if he just actually tried and not think that it was all doomed to fail. One failure didn’t mean everything was ruined—Tony knows that for a fact better than anybody else. 

There’s no response from Bruce, so Tony pushes more, throwing out a sneer this time round. “Is this it, then? Are you just going to give up because of one incident? I thought you were better than that.”

Bruce’s jaw clenches again, but he doesn’t answer and simply tries to maintain the little ground he has. Tony just takes it as a chance to keep on with what he’s doing. 

“You went through and lived in shitty Manila, but you can’t handle something like this?” Tony readies his next strike—if Bruce doesn’t do something, he’s going to throw the match to Tony. “You disappoint me, Banner. I didn’t know you were such a coward.”

Something flashes in Bruce’s eyes at those words, but Tony can’t stop—he throws out his punch, wholly intending to take out Bruce with that attack. But before said punch can connect with Bruce he suddenly starts to move. Bruce ducks down, avoiding the attack and suddenly he starts on his offensive; Tony just barely manages to notice the low, sweeping kick aimed at his feet before it connects, and only has a moment after drawing back his punch to go back and avoid getting swept down to the floor.

Tony isn’t the most graceful person and neither are his movements; he stumbles backwards after avoiding Bruce’s attack, needing a moment to steady himself. Bruce uses that moment to move in and try to land another hit on Tony, and again Tony is only given the split second before the attack connects to dodge it again.

Suddenly the tides have turned; now Tony is the one who has to go on the defensive while Bruce attacks relentlessly. He gives Tony no quarter and no chances; every attack he does is with the intention to bring Tony down and win this match. 

It’s hard to tell what exactly is the trigger that pushes Bruce into action—Tony personally thinks it’s either what he said to Bruce or something else entirely, but it doesn’t really matter at this point. What did matter is that Bruce is finally giving what he’s really got, and Tony isn’t going to just take it either. Just as Bruce is finally showing his true self Tony does the same, returning the favour, making sure that he can put himself on par with Bruce because he deserves somebody who can match up to him. It would be a disservice to not just Bruce, but to the both of them if he didn’t do that.

Suppressing a grin, Tony goes to push himself forward and fights Bruce neck to neck, returning every one of his attacks with a strike of his own. Bruce doesn’t relent as well and keeps up on his offensive, a fact that pleases Tony very much indeed. 

It all seems to shift, then, the spar becoming something else entirely, the battle much more than a clash of wills. Tony fights and Bruce retaliates; Bruce strikes and Tony counters. Their movements work in tandem with each other, every action contrasting but yet also complimenting at the same time. They flow back and forth like a river, like two dancers on a stage, the energy of their actions flowing back and forth and putting the rest of the world to the back of their minds. 

It’s almost like magic.

There’s no such thing as magic, of course, but if there ever was Tony would say this was the closest he would ever come to it. It’s hard to describe the way they trade movements and actions back and forth, a dance of action and reaction so fluid and precise it’s almost as if they can read each other’s minds. Maybe it’s because of how much they’ve drifted with each other already, but it’s what they’re doing now is nothing short of amazing even to Tony. He mentally resolves to take a look at the video feed later once this is done and see if there’s anything he can pick up from this. If he has to, he’ll even go and ask Rogers for his opinion as much as he hates asking him for favours.

They continue on their spar, keeping toe to toe with each other, neither of them giving an edge to each other. Bruce keeps up his offensive for the most part, giving it as good as he’s got, and Tony wonders once more what exactly had triggered the sudden shift. Did his words actually have an effect on Bruce?

No time to think about that right now. Tony keeps his mind focused on the fight, pushing as well as receiving, matching Bruce with every move that he makes. “Nice to see you finally taking an interest, Bruce,” he says while avoiding a jab thrown to him and sends out a punch of his own in return. 

Bruce—unsurprisingly, once again—does not answer, but that’s okay. At least now Tony knows he’s not going to throw in the towel like what he had been worried about. If anything, he can see the fight still burning in Bruce, unfaltering and certain. The way he’s giving his all against Tony shows that much to him at the very least. A person who would have given up wouldn’t be fighting the way Bruce is right now. 

“I’m thinking we should make this thing more meaningful,” he keeps on talking anyway, because even in a thing like this it’s impossible to keep his mouth shut and give the moment to itself. “How about this? Winner gets to ask the loser for anything that they want.” It’s entirely childish, but hey. Tony certainly never claimed that he was _mature_.

Still no verbal response from Bruce, but Tony can see the slight narrowing of his eyes—the way Bruce would always do when he’s questioning Tony on some of his choices. At the very least, it shows that he’s heard the words and is debating on it. Tony takes it as a chance to push the idea further. “Just think about it. It’s not every day when somebody gets a chance to ask me for anything they want. I’m sure there’re people out of the dome who’d do anything for that chance. You should consider yourself lucky, you know. I don’t do this every day.” More like he never does it for _anyone_ to be honest, but Tony knows that Bruce is aware of that, just as he’s aware of the fact that Bruce doesn’t need something like this to spur him on. But it’s always nice to have a little incentive going on, Tony believes.

Their fight continues for a while more, Tony giving Bruce some time to think about it, but there’s only so long he can put up with the silence and speaks again. “You know that they do say ‘silence means consent’, Bruce. If you’re still not going to raise any objections I’m going to take your silence as a yes.”

There’s another flash in Bruce’s eyes, and to Tony’s surprise he finally speaks, even though it’s just a single word voiced into a question. “Anything?” he asks, voice surprisingly firm despite the fact that he’s asking a question and Tony has a _feeling_ that this is something he has to prepare himself for. But they’re still sparring and he can’t put too much of his mental focus on this—plus he doesn’t really want to give more reasons to possibly drive Bruce away—so he simply nods and gives his affirmative.

“Yes,” he says, and then there’s that flash in Bruce’s eyes once more before he suddenly goes on an even stronger offensive, one that nearly catches Tony off guard. He does manage to keep himself on his toes though, barely keeping up this time as Bruce pushes forward with the clear intention of taking this match. There must be something then that he wants from Tony, and wants it badly if he’s forcing himself this much.

If Bruce is doing this much, then, Tony certainly can’t falter behind as well. This may be a childish bet but Tony has no intention of losing to Bruce either.

He fights back once again, pushing himself onward just as Bruce is doing likewise and the intensity between them increases notably. It’s more than just the push and pull of each other, more than give and take. This time its two wills clashing against each other in a fight that’s both mental as well as physical, neither of them budging nor giving in to one another. 

Tony can’t remember when had been the last time he could do this with anybody was, with somebody who could match him like this and the entire feeling is amazing, honestly. It’s downright exhilarating and Tony would be a liar if he said he didn’t love this. Physical prowess was one thing but mental prowess was another thing entirely and up until Bruce there hadn’t been anybody who could match him up like this. It’s only really in this moment, Tony thinks, of how much he had been missing in his life—of how much _Bruce_ had been missing in his life as well. If only they had met earlier in their lives… 

Tony finds himself distracted in that moment with that one thought, and that’s all that Bruce needs to take his advantage. Bruce strikes forward, distracting Tony with a jab much like what Tony himself had attempted at the start, but where he fails Bruce succeeds; he uses that split second to go low and knock Tony off his feet with a sweeping kick, and Tony tumbles instantly.

Except it still doesn’t end there. Tony’s never been one to play by the rules after all, and even in this spar it’s no different. As he buckles down to the ground Tony manages to shift his weight so that he’s falling forward rather than back, and as he goes to the ground Tony reaches to grab Bruce by his arm so that they both fall together. Still recovering from his attack Bruce is unable to avoid the catch, and he lets out a yelp of his own as the two of them tumble down to the mats, Tony first and then Bruce on top of him.

Tony has already prepared himself for said fall while Bruce is still disoriented from it, and Tony uses those precious moments to reverse their positions. In a flash he’s flipped them over so now Bruce is pinned onto the mats while Tony straddles him, a triumphant grin on his face.

“Looks like I win the match,” he can’t help but crow a little because _yeah_ it does feel good. Maybe a little too good, but it’s been a while since he could feel good so Tony cuts himself a little slack. Besides now he’s managed to get Bruce to do something else instead of moping even if they’re both kind of sweaty and hot and Tony can see the way Bruce’s eyes are wide and dark with surprise as he stares up at Tony and Tony—

—Tony suddenly can’t think at all.

It’s never been a secret that Tony’s mind drifts to sex when he’s not busy working, but he’s never really thought about sex with _Bruce_ specifically. But right now with Bruce pinned down while Tony straddles across him it’s the only thing Tony can think of at this very moment. Images of Bruce pinned onto his bed instead of these mats, the flush on his face one of arousal instead of exertion, eyes dark with need instead of surprise. His mind helpfully adds on to that image by also picturing Bruce with kiss-swollen lips and wild, messy hair from the bits of memory he can recall from the drift. 

It doesn’t help when he can suddenly feel echoes of Bruce’s thoughts right now in his head too, disjointed fragments of heat and surprise and he can feel the minute shivers of Bruce’s skin where his hands are touching him, holding him down. Distantly Tony realizes that this is the first time they’ve actually touched each other again since the incident and wonders if it’s something in there that caused this to happen. Their connection outside of the drift has always been unnaturally strong—something that Tony had been attributing to their unique makeup and how Gamma Arc operates—but this is almost emphatic on many degrees. Tony’s pretty sure that neither of them had actually experienced this before until now and that’s—he doesn’t know what to think of that, actually. It’s all too much right now.

They’re still staring at each other, Tony realizes. They haven’t taken their eyes off each other yet and the prolonged stares only seem to intensify whatever it is they have right now between them. Tony doesn’t know what to name this feeling, this sudden connection that seems to suck out everything else inside of him. The world fades, taking a step back and there’s nothing else right now besides Bruce underneath him. There’s heat, but it’s not the same heat that Tony knows he’s supposed to have—this is another kind of heat entirely, one that burns from the inside and claws underneath his skin, destroying him from the inside out.

The heat has his mind and his thoughts, rendering him unable to think and only do what only seems so natural for his body to dictate for him. Tony leans down, his gaze still locked with Bruce’s, and they’re close enough now that their breaths mingle, their lips hovering above each other. Sweat from Tony’s hair drips down onto Bruce and slides down his cheek and Bruce just makes a little sound at the back of his throat that only serves to fuel the fire inside of Tony. 

Tony acts before he can think it through. He closes the distance and kisses Bruce, pressing their lips together in a purely chaste kiss. Bruce all but falls pliant underneath him, his entire body sagging as he surrenders to Tony and the mere notion of that is enough to have heat surging through his veins. From there it’s impossible to _not_ imagine what he wants to do next to Bruce: his tongue slipping into Bruce’s mouth, sliding a hand underneath his thin t-shirt to feel the heat of his skin, teasing fingers up and down the length of his body all in order to get out more of those sounds Tony knows he just _has_ to hear again—

“ _Dr. Banner, you are required in the lab by the request of Dr. Geiszler. Please head down there immediately. I repeat: Dr. Banner, you are required…_ ”

The two of them instantly draw back as if they had been burned. Tony, in particular, backs off just a little too suddenly, and the momentum of his action causes him to fall back onto the mats with a rather undignified yelp. 

Bruce instantly scrabbles to his side and looks down concernedly. “Are you alright, Tony?”

Tony winces, but cracks an easy grin and answers the question. “I’m fine. Just a little bruised dignity, I suppose.” Certainly not his most glamorous moment, but to be fair this was _hardly_ the worst he had gone through. It was just a little embarrassing, that was all. Tony could deal with a little embarrassment. 

There’s a familiar small smile appearing on Bruce’s face in response—one of the many things that Tony has missed from Bruce, if he was going to be honest—but before he can say anything else the PA system calls for Bruce once more, and Tony knows that their ‘moment’ (which is the only thing that Tony could call it right now; he doesn’t really _want_ to give it a name right now, not so soon) is over.

The smile on Bruce’s face is a little more strained now. “I… I should go,” he says, muttering more than speaking but Tony can hear him anyway. He can hear Bruce and understand him, perhaps a little better than before. Maybe all that crap about sparring with your co-pilot and stuff did have some use after all.

Tony manages to make himself nod. “Yeah,” he replies, and distantly he realizes how croaked his voice is. “I’ll… see you later? Maybe?” God, he feels like a teenager or something now but his body is betraying him and Tony is only glad that the spar is doing well to hide how his palms are sweating from nervousness instead of exertion or the way his body is trembling with nervous energy. Or maybe Bruce has noticed—after all, he has always been the one who could read body language better between the two of them. 

If he had though, Bruce doesn’t call out on it and only nods as well. “Maybe,” he returns, the strained smile still in place, and Tony watches as Bruce pushes himself up onto his feet. There’s no mark to show what they had been doing earlier, of course, but Tony can still picture the image of Bruce’s kiss swollen lips in his mind. It’s going to be an image that’s hard to get out.

Tony stays on the mats even as Bruce turns back to give Tony one last glance, forcing his smile to grow just a little bigger before he makes his way out of the room. Tony watches Bruce until he leaves and then lets his head fall back down onto the mats, staring up at the ceiling as he lets out a groan.

He was going to need a good, long, very _cold_ shower when he got back to his room.

* * *

The rest of the week passes with little incident, a fact that both relieves and frustrates Tony at the same time. Relief because things had improved somewhat ever since that incident—Bruce was integrating himself back into the society of the Shatterdome again and pointedly _not_ avoiding everyone like before. It was an improvement, certainly, and one that Tony was very glad for. But then the frustration came when nothing had _really_ happened with them too ever since that same incident, and Tony isn’t exactly sure what to feel about it. Was Bruce just ignoring it, or…?

Then again, when he thought about it, Tony supposed it was for the best. Neither of them were really that well equipped to deal with emotions like these. For him there had been Pepper up until the kaijus became a thing and Tony had decided to go pro bono and leave SI with Pepper (a stunt she still hasn’t quite forgiven him for, he thinks) and for Bruce there had been Betty Ross. That is one memory of Bruce’s that sticks with him; the memory of Betty’s death. It’s a strong imprint in his mind and it’s not hard to see why. 

It had all happened in Harlem—an incident that will most likely go down in history books as one of the worst incidents to take place during the human-kaiju war. That city where Bruce was working to test out his works on improving the neural connections between pilots and Jaegers, which he had been attempting to strengthen said connection with his experiments and theories. Bruce wasn’t an official pilot per se, but he did know the basics and tech and had the licence to test out his works with an old Jaeger model that was no longer in use. It had no weapons, only basic functions and an old framework Tony had long since replaced with the current Jaegers.

Old Jaeger or new Jaeger, however, they still needed a two pilots to operate it, and so for Bruce his co-pilot had been Betty, his partner as well as his fiancée. Tony had read up on the files in the past before he went to ask Bruce to work with him all those months ago. They met when Bruce was already deep into his work, and as time passed they came to love each other. They got engaged, and had already decided to settle down when the war with the kaijus was over. It was a nice dream, from what Tony could pick out—a simple house, an adopted dog, maybe even a kid or two in the future. It was simple, easy, all the things Bruce ever wanted in his life.

But of course, if things had been that simple, then Tony would have never needed a fucking electromagnet for what passed on as a heart. 

In an impulse Tony brings up the documents that had subsequently covered what was now termed ‘The Harlem Incident’. An unexpected breach had happened in the seas near Harlem, throwing out a Category 2 towards them, and back then there had not been a base in place. The Jaeger that Bruce’s lab had was the only one close enough to meet the kaiju in time, and proper backups would take another hour before they could reach the area.

Logically the smart thing was to follow the evacuation and leave the kaijus to the proper authorities. But Bruce—Bruce who wanted to keep his lab safe, Bruce would didn’t want to lose his work, Bruce who was so _dumb_ and _foolish_ then—had instead stayed with the Jaeger to try and keep his work alive. Betty had joined him, of course, for Bruce did not have his condition then but would get it soon. After all, for Bruce it was where everything ended for him.

It had happened when the kaiju came onto them. Bruce and Betty, both of them entirely untrained fighters, were of course being beaten down quite viciously by the Cat 2. In desperation Bruce activated his experimental device to try and turn the tides, and the result was nothing like what anybody had expected. 

The reports say that what Bruce was subjected to was a huge dose of gamma radiation—more than just it being lethal, the amount that Bruce was given was more than enough to render an entire country into dust instantly. But it had not killed Bruce; instead what had happened was that it amplified his neural link by a million times, so much that his mind literally split itself into two, and the sudden increase of neural activity was too much for Betty Ross to handle. Her mind overloaded, and she had died just as Bruce survived. 

After that the reports showed how Bruce went on what could only be described as a _rampage_ , piloting the Jaeger all by himself as he tore the kaiju apart and wrecked Harlem in the process. There were no reports after that, but Tony knew what happened next from Bruce’s memories: being hunted down by Betty’s father—General Ross—as he strove to catch Bruce for revenge as well as his own purposes. And so Bruce had ran, running across the world and never stopping for fear of Ross until he got to Manila where the state of the country provided an excellent hiding spot for Bruce. And so in Manila he had stayed, up until SHIELD dug through the records for what General Ross had been doing up to his discharge and found the existence of Bruce Banner. 

Tony sighs as he glances through the reports again, scowling a little as his mind finishes running through Bruce’s history. Yeah, so he remembers Bruce’s history once again. He failed to see how that would help him right now though. If anything, it just makes him feel worse for having initiated that—that _moment_ —with Bruce. It’s clear that he’s still not over Betty yet and here he is doing dick moves like these. Not that he wasn’t fond of dick moves, but Bruce didn’t deserve it in the slightest. Life had been bad enough for him; Tony didn’t need to do more to make it even worse.

Letting out another sigh, Tony rubs his cheek, debating on his choices. It’s already late into the night and the both of them are going to be put on active duty once the sun rose. Bruce isn’t avoiding him now, so that was something, but… it was not hard to feel the sense of awkwardness that was between them. He had pushed their boundaries a bit too much, he could tell, and the last thing he wanted was for Bruce to disconnect himself from Tony. Not after everything. 

The _things_ he had been feeling for Bruce in the last few recent days aside (Tony was so not going to touch them even with a ten foot pole, nope) Bruce was still somebody he could consider close by now. Tony wasn’t somebody who could say he had many friends, and losing one was always something that hurt. The fact that they were co-pilots only made things complicated; if things got bad, then it could seriously jeopardize their connection in the drift and Fury, he knew, would not be happy if he knew he was going to lose a team again.

That still didn’t change the fact that they were going to have to start drifting with each other again soon, though. In fact, if anything, Tony only felt _more_ worried right now. Both of them were epically messed up people—in all the months they had drifted neither of them had ever really touched on what they saw. At first Tony was glad because it just meant that Bruce wasn’t going to prod him into all that mushy feeling crap, but now he can’t help but wonder if it was because Bruce was steadfastly ignoring his own problems, too. 

God, they were really pretty screwed up. And not in the fun way.

Tony gives the reports around him one last glance before it closes them with a wave of his hand. He closes his eyes as the screens around him flicker and vanish, leaving Tony in the silence of his own room. He sighs again, and rubs at his forehead while he tries to think. Anything involving people that _wasn’t_ related to the ways of sex was entirely out of his league, and had this been about anybody else Tony wouldn’t even have bothered. But this was Bruce—Bruce his co-pilot, Bruce who he didn’t want to lose, Bruce who had somehow wormed so close into the cavity he might call his heart and settled there without his permission.

Maybe he was just thinking on this too much. One kiss certainly didn’t mean anything. Tony tried to think this through properly from the top; because thinking was one thing he was good at when the time required it.

Question: Why did he care for Bruce so much? Answer: Because they’re co-pilots. Then was his care for Bruce simply just because of that? No, because Bruce was also his lab buddy and the only one who could actually understand the things he brought up to discuss with Tony. That was a connection he didn’t want to lose either. So, why didn’t he want to lose that connection? Because it was always amazing to be able to discuss science with Bruce; to see the way his eyes lit up for once with passion and excitement as they talked and he had never found anybody else who was genuinely _that_ interested and that by itself was amazing.

So, now, was the reason why he cared for Bruce so much is just because of that? Yes and no; he liked Bruce much more beyond those things. Well, he appreciated Bruce at first because of those things, but then it was hard to imagine now a day without them trading ideas and exchanging their works in the lab, all their energies flowing back and forth just like with the spar. And speaking of the spar it had been a sight to see Bruce all sweaty and thrumming with energy underneath that lithe body of his and Tony wonders if he’ll be that sweaty too once they’re tangled in bed, Bruce moaning under him—

Tony knocks his head against the desk before he can let his thoughts go on any further. _Jesus, Stark, get a grip on yourself—you’re not a teenager anymore._ Just because he had nothing but his hand as late night company ever since the arc reactor became a thing in his life didn’t mean that he was going to start having fantasies about his co-pilot. Even if he was gorgeous and Tony would really love to have him in bed eventually—but he wasn’t a fucking prize. He was _Bruce_ , and he was much more than just a good lay for a night. He had stopped those habits of his with the appearance of the arc reactor in his chest; people just ended up being disgusted and repulsed by it and Tony really didn’t need that to make himself feel worse.

Not to mention that as far as he can remember in the drift, Bruce is about as celibate as they come. He hasn’t so much as touched himself ever since Betty’s death—not that he can clearly remember or understand _why_ , but he can harbour a couple of guesses and Tony does not want to ruin that, either.

When all was said and done, though, there was no denying it: Tony Stark had somehow fallen head over heels for Bruce Banner, and even Tony knew that he wouldn’t let it live it down to himself. When did it all even start? Tony couldn’t even tell, which the worst part of it all was probably the fact that he had been slowly carrying a torch for Bruce and he didn’t even realize it until that spar. Not to mention the fact that Tony realized had just spent the last half an hour thinking about this entire issue in the first place.

Tony revised his earlier opinion: they were both screwed, but right now Tony was the one who was even more screwed up between the two of them. He knocked his head on the table again one more time. Good job, Stark, for fucking up one of the best things in your life because your dick wants to have a mind of its own.

Really, what he should do is retire for the night. Sunrise is going to come up in an hour or two, and continuing to dwell on this wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Maybe after some sleep he can have a new perspective on this issue… not that Tony was confident of that. If anything, he was pretty sure things would just be the same, if not worse—

No more thoughts on that. What he needed was sleep.

Tony waves a hand once more to shut off all the other screens around him, scratching the back of his head as gets up from the chair and takes the few steps that cover the distance between his table and the bed. He flops himself onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling and letting out one more sigh. He really didn’t miss his bed, if he had to be honest. After spending all those months curling up with Bruce in his room now his bed seemed so empty and cold; even more so now after that incident. 

Tony let out a huff at that thought and turned to his side, staring at the wall beside his bed and closed his eyes, still attempting to not dwell so much on his own bed affairs. It was hard though, especially when Tony was certain that it was hardly going to get better from here on—there was no way Bruce was going to let him physically close now after everything…

Suddenly there’s a knock on the door, and Tony almost believes it’s a dream when he hears a familiar voice from the other side. “Are you still awake?”

In a flash Tony is scrambling out of bed, nearly tripping the blanket as he hurries to the door and pulls it open. When he sees Bruce still standing there at the entrance of his room Tony almost wants to pinch himself, having the sudden urge to wonder if he’s dreaming all of this. Maybe he was already asleep and didn’t notice at all. But god, Tony sure hopes as hell that this _isn’t_ a dream, despite the odds telling him otherwise.

There’s an awkward moment of silence between them as they both stare at each other, but eventually Bruce is the one who breaks it, shuffling his feet for a moment before he asks, “Can I come in?”

Tony has to blink for a second because he’s still kind of in the middle of processing the fact that Bruce is very much here and still debating if he really is dreaming this up or not. But dream or not, he’s not going to be one to not let Bruce into his room. “Oh, yeah, right,” he quickly says, and steps back, gesturing. “Come in.”

Bruce flashes a small, awkward smile and murmurs a quiet ‘thanks’ before he steps in and Tony closes the door perhaps a bit too loudly for this time of the night but he can deal with the repercussions of that later. Right now he’s much more invested in the fact that Bruce is _here in his room_ and again Tony has to resist the urge to do something stupid like pinch himself to check if he’s dreaming. Maybe he should just do that to get it over with.

“Ow,” he mutters under his breath once the deed is done, rubbing at the abused skin. Not dreaming, then. So apparently the fact that Bruce Banner was in his room was a very real thing.

Now what?

That’s a question that Tony is still pondering over as Bruce turns around to look at him. “…are you busy?” he asks after a moment, and Tony can’t help but jerk a little as the voice breaks him out from his thoughts.

“Huh?” Tony’s distracted for a bit, mind switching gears back to the present and when it does Tony kind of wants to hit himself a little. Here Bruce was in his room and Tony finds himself more concerned over the fact if it was real. He really was starting to lose it bad. Tony shakes his head, dislodging all those other thoughts and brings himself right to the _now_. Bruce is in his room. Bruce is in his room at a really weird time of the night. Bruce is in his room at a really weird time of the night right before they are scheduled to be deployed back to the front lines again. Clearly it has to be something important. 

Focusing himself once more, Tony pointedly sets his mind on the keywords Bruce, deployment, important and nods. “Yes—wait, I mean no. No, I’m not busy. You want something?” It was probably not a good idea to point out what a weird time it was, but then again weird times were the norms for scientists—Tony knew that as a fact. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what it could be that brought Bruce over here. Hopefully it wasn’t going to be something like them not going to pilot Jaegers any more. Tony wasn’t sure what to do if that was the case. Well he could go back to what he had been doing before Bruce but—that wasn’t the issue here. 

And then, obviously, that just only brought up the question of what exactly _was_ the issue and Tony wasn’t sure if he could answer that. Didn’t know if he dared to, if he had to be honest about it—the entire thing felt a lot like opening a can of worms.

Tony sees Bruce shuffling his feet again, hesitance and nervousness written as clear as day on every inch of his body. Was it because of what had happened? Was Bruce trying to set the record straight before they were deployed again? Tony supposed he couldn’t be wholly surprised if that was the case… hell, setting the record straight probably would do both of them a favour. Tony wasn’t expecting too much from Bruce, really, but drawing a clear line would help them, especially considering if they were going to be drifting together again soon. With their conditions and Gamma Arc’s calibration, Tony knew how hard it was to sometimes differentiate where one of them ended and the other began, especially during the drift and in the moments after it.

Since Bruce still isn’t speaking and is clearly hesitant on what he wants to say, Tony speaks up for the both of them. “I’m not guessing what is it that you’re here for, but know that whatever you want to do or say, I’m okay with it.” Sure, it was going to suck if Bruce didn’t want them to be co-pilots anymore, and it would sting a little if Bruce decided to start drawing the lines of where their partnership ended, but he can live with that. He could be a proper grown-up for once and respect whatever choice that Bruce had come to. It wasn’t _fun_ but… he had to live with it. Whatever Bruce wanted, he would live with it.

Bruce looks at Tony at that, a hint of surprise coming through onto his expressions, and Tony gives him at what he really hopes is an encouraging smile. Bruce has been so used to being told ‘no’, he thinks. He had just been expecting a flat out ‘no’ from the start and Tony’s agreement throws him off—and the idea of all of that in the first place is just kind of sad. Tony wishes he could tell Bruce that his answer to him would always be ‘yes’. Whatever Bruce wanted, Tony would give it to him. He deserved that much after everything he had been through, had done for Tony. Bruce had given him invaluable things Tony never had until they started being co-pilots and Tony wants to do the same for him in return. 

The smile seems to work, at least, and Bruce looks like he’s ready to day what’s on his mind, so Tony prepares himself internally. Whatever it was, he had to trust himself to take it with good grace—

“Can I sleep with you tonight?”

Tony very nearly balks at the question. It takes a moment for him to recover, and after he _does_ recover he spends another moment to blink rapidly at Bruce before he manages answer in what must be his most eloquent manner ever. “Wha?” Bruce… was asking if he could sleep with Tony? What? Was that actually real? Tony wonders if he should start to pinch himself again, but Bruce is talking again, so Tony puts away his notions of pinching himself to listen to what Bruce was saying. 

“It’s just…” he starts, and the hesitance as well as uncertainty is still in his voice, along with something else that Tony can’t quite pick up at the moment. “You haven’t been coming around at all and I’ve grown used to you being around. I know it’s weird, considering it’s already been a month, but—” Bruce makes a face here, as if he’s not quite sure what to say, and shrugs helplessly. 

Other people might not feel the same, but Tony doesn’t really need any words. Bruce is here, and he’s asking, and that’s all that Tony really needs—he’s long ago given up any claims on being a good guy. He flashes another smile to Bruce as he steps forward, coming close to him and slowly rests a hand on Bruce’s hip. Even through the fabric of his shirt Tony can feel the faint heat of his skin, little flares of warmth that echo down the nerves of his fingers. Bruce makes a start and glances down at the hand, as if surprised by its position and of Tony’s gesture in general, and Tony frowns a little. Was this not what he—? “When you say ‘sleep’, what do you mean?”

Bruce looks back up to Tony, blinks at him. “I mean sleep. Like what you always did last time.” There’s a pause after that, though, and then his expression turns wry. “I don’t really… sleep around, but you already knew that.”

And Tony does, yes, and he also knows the reasons _why_ Bruce doesn’t do it, and as much as his mind wants to do nothing more than jump Bruce’s bones Tony forces himself to use his head instead of his dick. He can easily respect Bruce and his choices—it’s already good enough that he’s willing to come here despite all the awkwardness of the last month and especially the last week. Tony doesn’t need to give Bruce new reasons to drive him away. He may not be an adult on many things but he can be mature about this one thing, surely. Bruce deserves that much at the very least.

Tony nods, understanding, and lets go of Bruce’s hip, stepping back to give them space. He can see the gratitude that shows on Bruce’s face when he does that and Tony wishes that it didn’t have to be that hard. Bruce could do almost anything he wanted and Tony would be okay with it—the fact that Bruce has to keep being so polite and formal with him is kind of painful. Things shouldn’t be like that with them. It should be easier, simpler, just like the times when they worked together in the lab or piloted Gamma Arc as if they had done it for years rather than months.

It’s hard to admit it, but the formality does sting a little.

There’s a brief pause, but Tony quickly breaks it with a cough and rubs his cheek. “Right, uh…” This really was all kind of awkward, but it was probably better to just steamroll through it and hope for the tentative best, if that was even possible. Tony makes a vague gesture to the bed and glances at Bruce. “After you, I guess?”

Bruce’s response was to give Tony a look that was both surprise and confusion rolled into one, but he did get onto the bed after a moment and Tony took that as a personal victory. He gestured for JARVIS to dim the lights as he clambered in after Bruce, glad for the decent size of the bed. It wasn’t exactly made to fit two men, but Tony wasn’t exactly large by anybody’s standards and Bruce was slightly smaller than him—it was a bit of a tight fit, but they managed to make it work nevertheless.

Once they had settled in Bruce let out a quiet huff, very much like the one that came after the first time Tony invaded his room and claimed his bed. That almost seemed like a lifetime ago. “You are such a bad influence,” he muttered, just loud enough for Tony to hear.

Tony can’t help it—he laughs. Softly, of course, but it’s still a laugh. “I get that a lot.”

Bruce laughs too at those words, a quiet little chuckle, and that sound is something Tony wants to keep for as long as he can. It’s so rare to hear Bruce being able to laugh like that, to be able to hear the quiet joy in his voice. Most of the time all he sees and hears is sadness and pain and Tony wishes that he could take it all away, remove all the weights that Bruce bears upon his shoulders so. It’s not fair that somebody as amazing as him has to go through so much. 

Thinking about that only makes the space in his chest clench, tensing up as Tony gazes at the back of the man who had so easily become part of his life. It’s terrifying, just thinking of that fact—of knowing just how much he’s tangled up into somebody he’s only known for a few months. He doesn’t want to think of a life ahead without Bruce, but he knows that what they have now will only last up until the war is done and then they will go their separate ways. Still, at least he hopes that when it happens they will part on amicable terms. 

To that effect Tony figures he should start to try and make amends, and that’s the reason for the words that he says next. “I’m sorry.”

Next to him he can feel Bruce still, a momentary pause that has Tony almost regretting his words before Bruce twists over so that they’re face to face now. In the dim lighting Bruce’s brown eyes look black, nearly blending in with his pupils. “Why are you saying that?” he asks, confused.

“For, well—” Tony hesitates at this point, uncertain of how Bruce might react. He doesn’t want to bring up the topic to be honest, but he has to if he wants things to clear up between them. They have to get back to the field with a clear head. “—last week. And the part where I saw your worst memory. And the other asshole-like stuff I did. But mostly for last week and the worst memory bit.” To be honest Tony was more concerned with last week, but since while he was having the ability to apologize Tony figured he should just say the other things as well. All Tony wanted was for Bruce to know how important this was to him—and that he would do whatever he could to keep this.

Bruce doesn’t answer immediately; he only looks at Tony and keeps silent, watching him with quiet eyes. Tony can’t help but gaze back at Bruce, staring at his eyes and the small lines that appear on Bruce’s face. He has a lot of wrinkles there, Tony thinks. Probably from all the frowning and worrying he does about his condition. He’s seen Bruce do it enough times already ever since they started this partnership between them. Like all the other things he wishes, Tony wishes again that he could somehow ease them away, keep Bruce away from all the things that haunt him. If only things could be that easy.

After a while the moment passes, and Bruce breaks his gaze from Tony, ducking his head down to seemingly look at something else. It takes another moment and a hand against his chest for Tony to realize that Bruce is looking at the arc reactor. The glow of it is strong even through the material of his singlet, and it casts an outline in the colour of a soft blue glow around Bruce’s hand as he lies it flat over Tony’s chest. 

It should terrify him, the fact that somebody is close enough to rip out the reactor from his chest. It’s like Obadiah all over again, the reason why Tony didn’t even dare to drift with anybody he didn’t know until Bruce popped up. Up until they drifted Bruce had been a complete stranger, and now they’re lying together in bed with his hand right on the arc reactor. The thought should be frightening, should freeze him to the bone, should make him bolt right out and push Bruce all the way out of his life.

But he doesn’t feel that, doesn’t do that. Can’t think of doing that, somehow, not when it just feels so right for Bruce to do it. It feels so easy to just let Bruce reach out and not be scared at all. It feels so strange, just how he can trust Bruce and know that in the end they could have each other’s backs. It was different from what he had with Rhodey and Pepper, with the other pilots. This trust went deeper than them being co-pilots, deeper than their partnership, deeper than anything else that Tony had ever known. 

Bruce stares at the arc reactor for a while more before he curls up his fist, letting some of the light shine through properly and illuminating the space between them. “How do you deal with it?” he asks, voice somehow softer than ever.

It’s not the first time somebody has asked that question—both Rhodey and Pepper had, but Tony had thrown off their questions with his usual brand of avoidance. Right now however, with the two of them curled up like this, their bodies nearly touching, it’s hard to do the same thing, if not outright impossible. All Tony can do is to be honest even if being honest is not a thing he usually does. But then none of this was something he would usually do either, so he supposed that the point was kind of moot.

“You can’t really ‘deal with it’,” he admits, and reaches down with a hand to place it over Bruce’s own, brushing a calloused thumb over Bruce’s knuckles. “You just have to live with it for as long as you’re around. Try and do something with what you’re given. At least, that’s what I think.” Not that Tony could ever claim that he was able to do it himself—there were still many days when his memories gripped him tight and refused to let go.

Bruce lets out a soft huff at that answer. “You make it sound so easy,” he says, but there’s no judgement in his voice, no anger. Just quiet, tired acceptance, and that too hurts Tony inside. They’re both damaged and broken, yes, but Bruce hides it so much better than Tony can, and when he finally shows it the entire thing is simply so jarring. It’s Bruce and not Bruce at the same time and Tony had to struggle putting the two versions together when he first saw it. He’s been managing, but it’s been a while since they last could talk like this.

Tony squeezes Bruce’s hand and smiles softly. “It isn’t,” he says with complete honesty, since there’s no use sugar coating it. Things weren’t going to be easy for either of them. “But it’s all we can do to make things better.” That was what Tony did, in the end—he was an engineer at heart. He took things that were broken and fixed them, made them better. And if Bruce allowed him, Tony would do the same for Bruce as well, because fixing Bruce would make Tony feel better and he know how much of better they both needed in their lives.

There’s no outward response from Bruce this time, but that’s alright. Tony doesn’t need a response from Bruce to know what he’s thinking. They’re connected right now, after all, and Tony can feel the faint echoes of Bruce’s thoughts in his mind. It’s nowhere as strong as during the incident last week, but it’s enough for him to understand Bruce’s current state of mind.

Tony gives Bruce’s hand one more squeeze before he pulls away, not to withdraw but so that he can snake both of his arms around Bruce and pull him in, bringing Bruce close to him and vice versa. Bruce makes a small, surprised sound, but doesn’t fight against Tony and lets himself be drawn in. 

“I thought you normally didn’t do this,” Bruce comments against Tony’s shoulder, voice drowsy. They’re all wrapped in each other now, Bruce having tucked his head into the crook of Tony’s neck. Tony himself has his arms wrapped around Bruce’s waist and rests his chin on the top of Bruce’s head, and their legs are hooked around each other. There’s barely any space between them, their bodies pressed close to each other for warmth and security. 

Tony lets out a quiet laugh and presses his nose into Bruce’s hair. “You’re an exception,” he murmurs, his voice almost inaudible, and he briefly tightens his hold around Bruce. For Bruce, he’d do almost anything to show him just how much he was worth it. Tony knows he’s told himself that a million times by now, but he needs to make himself clear. Bruce is worth all the trouble and the pain. He’s worth everything that Tony has up until now, and he wants Bruce to know that.

Being this close to Bruce now, Tony can feel the way Bruce eases in his embrace, the tension draining out from his body as Bruce lets the warmth suffuse through him. He’s quickly drifting off, Tony soon realizes, and that is a good thing. Sunrise is soon approaching, and with that, their return to the battlefield. They were going to need all the energy they could get.

Without really thinking about it, Tony noses through Bruce’s hair and presses a kiss onto his ruffled curls. Bruce barely shifts, only murmuring something unintelligible as he snuffles at Tony’s neck. Tony lets a small smile cross his face at that before he settles himself properly with Bruce and closes his eyes, letting himself fall asleep as well.

Once they were awake, the battle would resume once more.

* * *

On the day when they resume active combat, Thor brings all the pilots together and answers the question that has been on everybody’s mind for the past few weeks.

“His name is Loki,” he begins, hands clasped together. Beside him stands Fury, whose jaw is twitching in what was either irritation or disappointment. Perhaps it’s both of them. Thor has been one of the people that Fury trusts the most and it must be alarming to hear that the asshole who jeopardized their mission was actually _related_ to Thor. “Back when I was stationed in Iceland, he was my co-pilot. We were not brothers in blood, but I still consider him as one of my own—as did my father.”

Romanoff is the one who asks the question. “What happened?”

“It was a few months before the Shatterdome became operational,” Thor starts again. “Loki and I were facing a Category 3. It was supposed to be a simple mission, but something went wrong right before we clashed with the kaiju. The systems—they failed without warning. We suspected it was sabotage, though we could never confirm if that was the case or who did it.” 

“You couldn’t retreat?” Bruce is the one who questions this time from his seat beside Tony, a small frown crossing his face.

Thor shakes his head. “We were too far from the base then. If we turned around, we would just make ourselves all the more vulnerable for the kaiju. In that situation, we did the best we could. We used the backups, and against the odds we succeeded—but Loki vanished as the price of our victory. I thought him dead.”

“And we see that apparently isn’t the case,” Tony finishes for Thor, his voice dry. So did the guy fake his own death, then? But that still didn’t really explain the entire situation. There were still far too many holes in the story for him to be able to make a complete picture. The prime question out of all of them would be just exactly _why_ did this Loki guy even fake his death in the first place? If it was to join with the kaiju, then why was he working with them—and for that matter, how did he even reason with them in the first place? It didn’t seem like the kaiju were the kind to craft cunning plans of deception and betrayal.

Thor seemed like he was intending to answer the question, but Fury cut in before Thor could get any words out. “It doesn’t matter what his history is, or why he’s alive when everybody else is dead,” he snaps. “What we should be concerned about is what he’s doing with the kaiju, or what he did with Banner the other time. We need to be able to counteract it if it ever happens again—and end whatever he’s doing.”

“Tasha and I will search the battle area to see if we can find anything,” comes the voice of Barton. “It might be a while since then, but we all know kaiju stuff tends to stick around. With luck there might be something that can point us in the right direction.” He glances over to Romanoff as he finishes speaking, and breaks into a grin as she nods in agreement to his words.

Fury nods as well before he turns to Rogers and Barnes. “More hands will make this quicker. Give them a hand, Captain.”

“Got it,” Rogers replies with a salute, Barnes following behind.

Thor and Foster were the next in line for orders after the previous two. “You know your brother best. Go with Foster and look for areas that your brother might be hiding in. We’ll use the time between each breach to find where he is and end it quickly.”

The two pilots of _Thunder Bridge_ accept their orders with a nod. “We’ll do our best,” Foster pipes up as well in an attempt to assure Fury—not that Fury was the kind of guy who accepted assurances, Tony thought privately to himself. But regardless he nodded as well, and then turned his attention to the last duo… which was him and Bruce.

The sudden surge of awkwardness (as well as the silence) was pretty hard to ignore, Tony noted to himself once more as Fury glared down at the both of them. Beside him he could feel Bruce starting to tense up—not surprising, since Tony was aware of Bruce’s animosity of Fury. SHIELD hadn’t exactly made things easy for him back when they went to pick him up in Manila. Then again Tony himself wasn’t too fond of SHIELD either, even before Bruce; they were primarily a spy-type organization after all, up until the kaijus changed everything. And with somebody like Nick Fury as its head, who know what sort of things he had tucked away in that eye patch of his.

What with all their own issues (personal or combined) with Fury, it was pretty clear that Fury himself didn’t quite trust _them_ back in return. Really, what they had was a mutual agreement for their own benefit—compared to all of humanity, their trust issues with each other was the least of their worries. But with all of that said, the sentiment towards each other was still there regardless. Out of all the Jaeger teams Fury had under his command here in the Shatterdome, Tony knew that he trusted them the least, even if the others had since come to accept them.

Eventually Rogers is the one who breaks the silence, pointedly clearing his throat and glancing over to Fury. “Sir?”

Fury finally blinks and snorts, nostrils flaring, and levels his gaze on Tony. “Make sure that the both of you are ready for whatever happens when the time comes. We don’t need another incident like last time.”

Bruce answers for the both of them, and though his body doesn’t tense further, his voice is terse as he answers back to Fury. “You don’t need to worry, Director. We’ll be sure to be ready the next time round.” There’s a strength to Bruce’s voice that Tony hasn’t heard before, a quiet _something_ that he can’t quite instantly place but it’s something that comforts him. But he can hear the determination that sounds in his answer, strong and certain, and Tony knows that he has to back up his co-pilot.

“You don’t need to worry, Nick,” he adds on for Bruce, quipping in his usual laid back manner but there’s a note of his own certainty in his own response. _We’re stronger than you think, Fury._ “That guy won’t even know what hit him when we meet again.”

Their shoulders brush by each other after Tony’s said that, and that brief moment of contact is enough for Tony to feel a surge of gratitude that floods him from Bruce, and Tony widens his smile in return. He doesn’t have to worry at all—with the both of them ready and together like this, they can take on the entire world. Nothing is going to stop them, ever.

It takes a while (and about two standard breaches later), but eventually Barton and Romanoff manage to find something after spending a lot of time rummaging around the site. It had been a part of the kaiju that was with Loki, discovered in its wedged position between two rocks—it had presumably been lost when it was fighting against them back during the incident. Or maybe it was something else. Regardless of the case, they had something, and that was all they needed.

With the kaiju part that was found, both Geiszler and Gottlieb made it their duty to fashion out something that could track down the kaiju with its DNA. Another breach passed before they managed to finish and perfect it—far too long in Tony’s opinion, but at least the time gave him and Bruce the opportunity to better hone their skills both in and out of the Jaeger. The two of them train almost daily now, sparring with each other at least once a day in between their time in the lab where they work on theories to better streamline their neural connection and improve their capabilities in the drift. _Gamma Arc_ received some upgrades as well, and eventually Tony got to expand those upgrades to fit into the other Jaegers as well. 

Neither of them really talk about the thing that’s growing between them, slowly but surely burgeoning and expanding, but right now that isn’t what they should be concerned about. They have something to do, an aim they’re both striving to achieve together, and Tony is with Bruce every step of the way.

Together they grow stronger, better, more complete than before, fitting and falling into place with each other better than ever. In all his life Tony has never felt more certain about anything else; with Bruce he does almost everything with him, from the labs to the gym and the times they practice their drift, trying out all the theories and ideas they have for each other, seeing if they work. Every single day is filled with nonstop action, both within the Shatterdome and out of it, but even as exhausted as Tony gets at the end of the day, as tired as he is, every part of him is still focused and determined, still ready to take on anything that he needs to do.

It’s been a long time since Tony felt this sharp and focused—the last time had got into this mindset was when he made what would be the prototype for the Mark I jaegers, right after the incident that earned him the device in his chest and an entirely new perspective in life. Bruce brings out the best in him, he can’t help but notice, and somehow Tony doesn’t mind it at all. With just about everyone else Tony doesn’t like to show the other sides of him, but with Bruce who has seen everything in the drift and still stays by his side… with Bruce, Tony doesn’t mind at all. He’s seen the worst of Bruce, after all, and witnessed the memories that haunt his dreams every night still even after all this time.

Tony knows that there are some nights when the memories get so bad that Bruce would jolt right out of bed and go straight down to the lab to work his adrenaline off. Sometimes Tony joins him, other times he lets himself listen to Bruce’s words and stay in bed. But Bruce never lets his fears stop him—instead he uses it to push himself forward and keep on working, not willing to stop until the whole matter is settled. In a way, Tony understands it about closure; it’s something that they both need.

As they keep on working together they grow together as well, something that amazes Tony and he knows that Bruce can feel his amazement as well. What they have is entirely unique, but it’s also what defines the both of them at the same time and that is something they can both take pride in. Bruce has tried to explain it to him before—something about the body making up for the mind, and the neural links opening up some part of the brain that links them together—but he admits that it’s all theoretical and can’t really be proven given their circumstances. Tony just tells him that it doesn’t matter in the end—what matters now is that they had to be prepared for what was to come soon.

And when the time _does_ come—when they have a lock on where to go and Fury gives the order for them to move out to the coast of Antarctica, Tony knows that they’re both as ready as they can get. Loki won’t even know what will hit him and his kaiju cronies.

* * *

“ _This is Steve reporting in with Bucky. Liberty Winter is in position, over._ ”

“ _Romanoff and Barton speaking. We’ve just arrived at our point as well, over._ ”

“ _Thor and I are ready as well. We’re prepared to draw out Loki at the order, over._ ”

“ _Confirmed for Liberty, Hawk and Thunder,_ ” Hill returns over the communications. “ _Gamma, what is your status? Over._ ”

Tony knows that he should respond, but following orders has never really been this thing, and what’s more important at the moment is Bruce himself rather than answering to Fury and his people. Ignoring Hill’s voice for the moment, Tony turns towards Bruce, glancing over at his co-pilot with a questioning look. “Are you ready, Bruce?”

Bruce lets out a huff of what sounds like exasperation, but nods anyway. “Yeah,” he replies, and then switches on the microphone. “Gamma Arc reporting. We are in position, over.”

“ _Received confirmation for Gamma,_ ” Hill speaks to all four teams. “ _Operation Tesseract is now officially in effect. You are all clear to begin the op._ ”

Those were the very words that the two of them had been waiting for. The two of them glanced towards each other and nodded, giving each other the assurance that they were ready for this. Tony couldn’t help but break into a grin himself as both of them prepared to act their part in the operation once the signal was given to them, but in the meantime the communications was buzzing with activity—or at least, activity from Thor and Foster’s side.

“ _Subtlety has never been your best aspect, brother_ ,” comes Loki’s mocking tone, speaking either close or loud enough for his voice to be picked up through Thunder Bridge’s channel.

If Thor had been affected by the words, he manages not to show it. “ _I thought you dead. All of us grieved for you. Mother and Father—_ ”

“ _Mother and Father,_ ” Loki cuts through Thor’s words then, parroting his brother’s words in a way that can only be described as hollow and mocking. “ _They tell you that they grieved, but did they really? Somehow I find it so hard to believe._ ”

Silence from Thor. “ _What do you mean?_ ” he eventually brings himself to ask after a pause.

Rather than giving Thor any proper response Loki only laughs mockingly, his voice much more hollow than moments ago. “ _Did they not tell you, brother? The lie in which they had been telling us all our lives?_ ” On the monitors Tony sees a flare of unknown energy coming from somewhere near Loki, and takes a note of it before he transmits a signal to the other Jaegers.

“What could it be?” Bruce mutters beside him, a note of concern in his voice.

“Something we should keep an eye on while Thor keeps his brother busy,” Tony responds while he turns his gaze to check on how Black Hawk is doing. They’re moving at a slow but steady pace, the noise cancellers and cloaking tech installed into it working well so far. The screen shows an ETA of three minutes—that’s how much longer Thor has to keep Loki occupied if they hoped to have a chance to succeed in this at all.

There’s a small hum of agreement from Bruce. “I’ll keep an eye on it, then. You keep on listening to how Thor is doing.”

“Eavesdropping is not really in my skillset,” Tony deadpans back, but instructs JARVIS to send the feed over to Bruce before he tunes back to what Thor and Loki are saying to each other.

“ _—it doesn’t matter what you think,_ ” Loki’s words are what Tony hears once he’s back on Thunder Bridge’s reception channel. “ _Nothing in this world matters any more. What you should know, brother, is that humanity is destined to rot right here and now, and I will usher in a new age for Earth’s new inhabitants._ ”

“ _And who are these new inhabitants that you speak of?_ ” Thor questions his brother at that, his voice now nearly a demand of its own.

Loki doesn’t respond to the question with any more than another low chuckle—not that Tony wasn’t really surprised by that; he was enough of an egomaniac to know how this was going to end. In fact he would be surprised if Loki _had_ revealed anything, since that would mean one of two things. Either he had a bluff or… well, he just happened to be that confident, which wouldn’t have meant anything good for them at all.

Thus the fact that Loki had chosen to reveal nothing, by proxy, had shown Loki’s hand just a little. Tony knew now that there was still a chance that whatever Loki had planned, it could all backfire all him in the end. Which meant that all of them had their opportunity to take—and Tony wasn’t one to miss an opportunity when he saw it.

Whether Thor does understand that or not, Loki’s chuckle doesn’t seem to sit well with him, and there’s a bite of frustration and anger in his voice as he calls out to Loki once again. “Explain yourself, Loki!”

Hardly fazed by his brother’s slowly growing rage, Loki only shakes his head, his chuckles slowly dying down. “You don’t need to know,” he says, his tone light and conversational for a moment, and then it suddenly turns into something much darker and twisted. “It’s amazing how ignorant humanity is to so many things that shape their present. Even the ones they call the brightest have no idea just how much slips from their grasp.”

The tone of his voice unsettles Tony somewhat—although it’s more about the choice of words used there. He knows that both Bruce and him were known as geniuses, a fact that Tony likes to revel in sometimes—was that supposed to be a jibe towards them, then? And if so, did this mean that Loki was already aware of their presence? That did not bode well if that was the case. Paranoia has always been one of Tony’s traits, something he shared with Bruce due to their own respective lifestyles. He glances over to Bruce, who glances back at him as well and gives an assuring nod; he’ll help Tony to keep track of the conversation as well while Tony goes to check on the other teams.

Giving Bruce a nod of his own, Tony turns his attention back to his screens and gets JARVIS to open up communications to both Liberty Winter as well as Black Hawk. He uses video, just to be certain that everything is fine, and when two screens pop up in front of him he sees the confused looks from Rogers and Romanoff looking back at him.

“ _Stark?_ ” Rogers instantly asks, the question all too evident. Tony rarely did use video after all when he was in Gamma Arc, both for Bruce’s benefit as well as the rest of the team; he knew that the interior of the Jaeger wasn’t something the others were used to. Tony supposed if he wasn’t part of the cause of it, he would be pretty spooked out as well at first—before becoming deeply interested in the hows and whys. 

That wasn’t something to think about now, though. Tony clears his mind, focusing back onto the present. “Just doing a quick check in, don’t worry. You guys holding up?”

Rogers blinks at the question, seemingly surprised by it, but he pushes it aside after a whole and answers the question with a nod. “We’re fine, don’t worry. Both of us are ready to move once we have the signal.”

There’s a bit of a pause before the pilots of the other Jaeger respond, but when they finally do Romanoff’s voice is about as dry as sandpaper as she replies. “Well enough until you decided to do this. Was it something that Loki had said?”

Tony has to admit, it’s a little bit scary at times at just how well Romanoff can read people, but then she _had_ been a spy in SHIELD until Black Hawk came into existence. Reading people was probably in her job description—though Tony hardly likes it. “Something like that. Anything unusual happening on your end?”

Barton cuts in there before Romanoff can get an answer in—although his voice is just about as dry as hers. Tony can’t tell if it’s because they’re currently drifting or just because they’re both that annoyed. It’s hard to tell in times like these. “Nothing at all, Stark. We’re progressing along just fine. If we don’t have any more interruptions like the one you’re giving us now, we should be there in about a minute.”

Those words are probably a sign that Tony should drop it—one that Tony intends on following through—but before he can get JARVIS to end the transmission Bruce cuts in. “Are you sure you’re not noticing anything, Clint?” 

Tony gives a look to Bruce. _’Clint?’ Since when was he ‘Clint’?_

Bruce simply sends back a look of his own in response. _We are not having this conversation here of all places. And why are you even concerned, anyway?_

 _Concerned? I’m not concerned. I just what to know what’s going on, that’s all._ That was pretty close to the truth for as much as Tony could manage, but it was still weird all the same—Bruce had never really been close to any of the other pilots, so what was with the sudden change? It was all kind of strange. Still, Bruce was right—this wasn’t really the time or place, and even he could recognize that fact. _But I agree. Later, when this is done._ He tunes out of their link after that, directing his attention back to the channel with Barton who had spent a moment to check the surroundings of him and Romanoff. 

“ _It’s all clear,_ ” he confirms after having finished his check. “ _Are you sure there’s something here, Bruce?_ ”

Beside him Bruce is frowning, a small surge of worry coming between their link while he answers the question. “ _Pretty sure. I’m getting a fairly unusual reading from somewhere near you and Romanoff—its stationary at the moment, but it’s too far from us to be able to properly analyse it._ ”

Barton lets out a quiet hum. “ _Alright. Send the data over—we’ll keep a note of it while nearing our drop zon—_ ” Before he finishes his sentence the transmission suddenly ends, cutting out without warning and leaving both Bruce and Tony utterly dumbfounded, especially when their position on the map blips out as well. 

It takes a second before either of them can recover from the shock, but once they do both of them are quickly acting, trying to gain back connection with Black Hawk. Tony has JARVIS work on restoring communication with Barton and Romanoff while Bruce shifts his attention to Rogers (who was still connected and had witnessed everything). “Captain, try to get connection with Black Hawk as well from your end. You’re closer to them, so maybe it might be possible for you.”

“ _Bucky is already on it,_ ” Steve assures them both.

Tony utters a few choice words under his breath as he attempts to start broadcast once more with Barton and his co-pilot. “I don’t like this,” he hisses out, frustration evident in his voice.

“Neither do I,” Bruce murmurs in agreement. “But what’s important now is to try and connect with Black Hawk once more. With them off the radar there’s no telling what might happen to them—we need to make sure that they’re alright.”

“I know,” Tony returns with a small scowl. He wouldn’t admit it aloud, but he is concerned about the two of them. Romanoff and Barton were good at their work and losing them would be a loss to all of them—not to mention the fact that having to deal with a new pair of pilots wasn’t going to be fun. Better to save them and keep them alive than see them dead and have them haunt his consciousness for the rest of his life. He already had enough on his mind as it was.

As the minutes pass and they make no progress on re-establishing contact with Black Hawk, Tony snaps out an order for JARVIS to start hacking into the system of the Jaeger. Fury would be pissed if he knew, obviously, but Tony has no intention of that happening—besides, the safety of Barton and Romanoff were much more important that a few internal security breaches that Tony has no intention of letting anybody else (besides Bruce, obviously) know.

“ _Systems of the Mark V Jaeger Black Hawk successfully infiltrated,_ ” JARVIS finally informs them both after a few long moments.

“About fucking time,” Tony mutters quietly, just loud enough for Bruce to hear even if they were the only ones around right now. “JARVIS, what’s the status of the Jaeger?”

A stretch of silence. The seconds passed and JARVIS still remained entirely unresponsive, and a pit of uneasiness started to form at the bottom of Tony’s stomach. The two of them exchanged looks with each other, Bruce glancing uneasily at Tony as he gulped. It wasn’t hard to have a bad feeling about this. Turning back to his screens, Tony stared at it once more before he snaps again. “JARVIS. What’s your status? JARVIS!” The fact that JARVIS—the most sophisticated of all programs in the world—could not get back to him was worrying. Just what was going on with Romanoff and Barton to end up in such a state? 

The worry was eating at him now—not just Black Hawk and its pilots, but also for whatever it was that caused JARVIS to abruptly fall silent. “We need to break formation.”

To Bruce’s credit, he manages to keep quiet for a moment. “Tony, you know we can’t do that,” he eventually says.

Tony’s only response is to let out a snort. “Never pegged you as one to listen to orders, Bruce.”

“Never said I was.” Bruce’s voice is amused now, but confident all the same. “Let’s check in with how the Captain is doing first before we make any moves, though.”

Tony considers that for a brief moment before he nods. “Good idea,” he admits, and starts to open a line to Liberty Winter once more. “Rogers, how are you—”

“ _You think I wouldn’t notice at all, Thor?_ ”

The conversation with Loki and Thor, something that had been forgotten in all the sudden incidents, suddenly got their attention once more especially with those choice words. Both Bruce and Tony direct their attention over to the screen where the conversation is playing from, listening in to the sudden shift in Loki’s voice.

“ _What do you mean?_ ” Thor questions, now sounding quite edgy and for good reason—they had all been hoping that Loki would be occupied long enough for them to accomplish what they had all come here to do with minimal fuss. Even though all of them had strengthened themselves since their last encounter with Loki, they still didn’t want to take any chances. The smoother they could finish this, the better it would be overall. Although now it seemed like they weren’t going to be so lucky on that account.

Loki lets out an audible sigh, and when he speaks again his tone is clearly disappointed—in a fairly mocking manner. “ _Do you take me for a fool? You have your so-called_ companions; _knowing their all-righteous ways, I know that they’re with you right now, surrounding the area and keeping an eye on me._ ”

The jig was up, then. Not wholly unexpected, although Tony had personally hoped it would have went on a little longer. But there was no use thinking about that now. 

“Should we reveal ourselves?” Bruce asks quietly beside him.

Tony shakes his head in return. “Let’s wait and see what Thor will do first.” It’s not that Tony doesn’t trust Thor, but he wants to be certain that things are okay first. Things are pretty tense now—and considering Thor’s relation to Loki, there’s no telling what might happen. Tony needs that assurance.

“ _They are here to ensure my safety,_ ” Thor attempts to cover up for all of them. “ _Your entrance last time left a rather large impression on them. They do not wish to see it happening once again._ ”

There’s a pause from Loki before he reacts to that answer—nothing more than just a low sound of amusement, but the tone of it sends a chill down Tony’s spine and makes the pit in his stomach churn with slow dread. There’s nothing in that tone which can promise anything good for any of them. His following words don’t make things any better, either. “ _I suppose so. It would be quite the sight if the news came out that humanity’s last hope was destroyed by one of their own teams, after all._ ” A low, mocking chuckle. “ _Quite the sight indeed._ ”

This time Tony doesn’t need the neural link to know Bruce’s reaction to those words—from the corner of his vision he can see Bruce instantly tensing up, a wave of guilt washing across his side of the link. Tony’s experienced it several times by now, but it always hurts him too when he feels it. It hurts because he knew he could have helped, could have done more but wasn’t able to back then, and the result of them nearly cost Bruce. Even now he’s still guilty over the whole thing, even though everyone else has forgiven him since then and already moved on.

Other people might say that Bruce’s constant self-guilt was stupid, but Tony could understand. He understood better than others how it was to live with your own consciousness haunting you at every step of the way. He knew how it was to carry the burden of your own mistakes upon your own shoulders, and he could relate how it was to have to live with all your wrongdoings for the rest of the life. It was a heavy burden, one that was almost unbearable at times, but one they had to carry all the same and Tony got that. He knew how difficult it would be and he could never blame Bruce for all he did to himself. 

He just wishes that Bruce could actually understand that, too, instead of just wallowing in his own guilt. Just as Bruce made himself there for Tony, Tony would make himself there for Bruce too. The both of them were together in this—Tony had never appreciated the significance of having somebody who he could be just himself with up until now. But now he had, and Tony wishes that Bruce could actually turn his thinking around and see it for himself.

“Bruce,” he says after a beat, trying out for a quiet reminder. To let Bruce know that he wasn’t alone in this. No matter what, Tony would always make sure to have his back.

Bruce continues to remain tense for a moment more, but eventually he lets out a slow breath and eases, eyes sliding shut. “I’m fine,” he eventually manages, and Tony can sense that Bruce is telling the truth. The guilt is receding, at least for now, clearing up the link between them and allowing focus once more. It’s not what Tony hopes for, but this works well enough at the moment. They can discuss their issues on another day.

Tony almost starts to say something to that effect to assure Bruce, but Thor is speaking once more, his voice now edged with a note of caution. “ _No more games, Loki,_ ” he warns.

This time Loki snorts derisively, a fair amount of snideness coming into his response. “ _Games are for children, Thor,_ ” he quips back. “ _And neither of us have been children for a long time._ ”

There is a beat of silence and then Thor suddenly shouts without warning, desperation showing through. “ _Loki,_ please. _Enough of this. You can end it before either of us suffer even more than we already have._ ”

“ _Suffer? You dare talk about suffering to_ me _?_ ” Loki snaps back almost venomously, and there is a shift to his voice, subtle but at the same time evident. There’s something there, Tony knows, and maybe in another time and place he would have pried and tried to figured it out, but it doesn’t matter now. Loki marked himself the moment he attacked the Shatterdome, and he made himself an enemy in Tony’s eyes when he caused Bruce so much anguish and pain. Other men—good men—might have been forgiving, but just as before, Tony had long since given up on being a good man. 

Not willing to take this any longer, Tony opens communications with Thor and talks to him. “Thor, we have a situation. Black Hawk went off the radar a few minutes ago and we haven’t been able to get back in touch with it.”

On the other lines Rogers is, of course, none too pleased with what Tony is doing. “Stark, what do you think you are trying to—”

Tony pointedly ignores Rogers and his demands for Tony to _stop talking_ and does the complete opposite instead. “I suspect your brother is behind whatever happened to them. I’ve sent JARVIS to check but he’s gone silent as well. Neither Bruce nor I can figure out what’s happened.”

The words bring about a silence in Thor, one that stretches for perhaps a bit too long. For a moment Tony can’t help but wonder what it means—what Thor will do once he lets the silence end. He does trust Thor to do what it right at the end, but it’s impossible to deny his connection with Loki. The two were brothers, no matter what, as well as co-pilots before all of this and Tony while family isn’t something he can understand, the latter he understands much more… and perhaps all too well.

Perhaps Bruce has picked up on his uneasiness through their link, or maybe he has some unsettledness of his own, but he is the one who ends up breaking the silence, speaking over the communications to Thor. “Thor? Are you alright?”

Another moment more, and then: “ _We’re fine,_ ” comes the voice of Foster, quiet but the determination was audible in her response. “ _We’re both fine, don’t worry._ ” There’s another brief pause before she adds on. “ _Thor knows what to do, Dr. Banner. Trust in him._ ”

“I do,” Bruce assures her back in return. “And so does Tony.” He glances over to Tony as he says that, giving him a pointed look, and Bruce doesn’t need to think it for Tony to get what Bruce wants.

“I’m not doubting him, Foster,” he quickly tacks on, more for Bruce’s benefit rather than Foster’s own. But he does realize why Bruce makes him say it—speaking it aloud makes him more certain of the fact, much more confident than he had been as compared to before. Thor is with them. He believes in them more than his brother had had clearly made himself a threat. He can believe that Thor will choose what is right in the end. He can trust in that about Thor.

And thinking about that, in turn, makes Tony realize a few things about what is between Bruce and him. They haven’t really talked about this thing that they have. Certainly, they have both _thought_ of it—that much is evident in the drift, but neither of them have really done much of actually making it a real, genuine thing. The only true display of their vague relationship was the nights they spent spooning each other. While Tony trusts in their partnership, perhaps they do need to talk about it after all; at least, just to make it more real between them.

Tony wonders if Bruce can feel his resolution as he nods to himself, putting all of that in his mind. Once this was all settled and done the two of them were going to need a much needed talk. But for now they had to deal with Loki and whatever it is that he was doing.

As if on cue after that, Thor finally speaks again, and when he does there is a similar resolution in his voice as well, one of his own, and Tony can sort of guess what it is about. “ _Perhaps I will never be able to understand what exactly your suffering was, Loki,_ ” he says, “ _but all the same, I cannot just let you do as you please, not when the lives of innocents are at stake as well._ ”

“ _No human is innocent, Thor,_ ” Loki returns rather plaintively, and this time there’s a loud growl following after him in the background. It only takes a second for Tony to place the sound to his memory. At the very least, it explains why Loki can seem to be talking eye to eye with Thor without it being weird. Tony can easily picture him standing on the palm of the Category 3 like last time, looking across to Thunder Bridge and giving that goddamn infuriating smile of his. Tony wishes he could punch it off his face. At the very least, it would allow him to sleep better at night.

Though Tony isn’t able to punch Loki’s face _now_ , Thor gives one of his own in his reply. “ _And neither are you, Loki. Stop this now, and we can still make things better._ ”

“ _You are still a fool if you believe that, Thor._ ” It’s hard to tell what Loki seems to imply with those words, but then it doesn’t really matter. What Tony is more concerned with is how soon they can end all of this. The two of them have already spent long enough standing there and talking as it is—and the fact that Romanoff and Barton haven’t managed to accomplish their goal is spelling big trouble for all of them. And soon, that’s not the only thing they need to worry about now.

“ _Sir,_ ” comes a voice Tony is very much relieved to hear. Tony looks up, an expression of relief on his face, but before he can say anything JARVIS is interrupting him with something that is evidently much more urgent than his return. “ _Multiple kaiju readings have been detected in the area._ ”

Tony, meanwhile, feels his blood turning cold for a moment, dread rising inside of him. It couldn’t be… “How many, and what category?”

“ _Four, including the one the target is with. All marked at Category 3._ ” Four kaijus. _Four_ bloody category three kaijus. How had they managed to evade detection for so long? Even if JARVIS wasn’t around, the systems would have still been able to detect it. And there was still Rogers with his team’s Jaeger to account for as well…

Bruce looks over to Rogers on their communication channel. “Did you detect anything, Captain?”

Rogers’s response is a shake of his head. “Nothing at all on my end, either—well, at least until just now. Something blipped on our sensors the same time that yours did.” 

“Four of them appearing at the same time isn’t a coincidence,” Tony mutters, more to himself than anybody else. Two large kaijus appearing might still pass, but _four_ of them appearing on the radar at the same time was entirely improbable to be called a coincidence. Somehow or other they must have shielded themselves from the sensors—but the question was _how_. How did the kaijus manage to do that? 

The same question seemed to have come to Bruce as well; or at least, he sensed it through their connection. “Every kaiju is set with different abilities. Maybe one of them could have blocked out our sensors.”

“But then it wouldn’t make sense,” Tony returns, “there’s no reason to explain why they’d appear now. If they could hide themselves all this time, why let us seem them at all? They could just attack us while still remaining undetected and we wouldn’t even have a chance to defend ourselves.”

“ _You can think about that later, guys,_ ” Rogers interrupts their discussion, “ _I think we’re all going to have trouble on our hands pretty soon._ ”

To further highlight Rogers’s point, right after those words Thor is bellowing loudly through the comms, his voice loud enough to be heard even _without_ the channels picking it up. “ _Loki!_ ”

“ _You have your new companions, Thor, and I have mine._ ” There’s a clear note of mockery in Loki’s voice now, with a tone like that it’s not hard at all to imagine the smug smile the asshole has now. He’s probably getting off on this as he speaks, if Tony has to be honest about it. It’s one thing when he gets to do the ego thing, but when somebody else does it its outright irritating. “ _Now, let’s see which one us made the better choice, shall we?_ ”

“ _All kaijus have begun movement,_ ” JARVIS informs not a moment after that.

Four kaijus, three Jaegers at the moment—they were clearly outmatched, considering all the kaijus were at least marked as Cat 3s. Things would be more even if Black Hawk was around, but there was still no sign of what happened to them or if they were even alive. If they were…

Unsurprisingly, Rogers is the one who makes the decision. “ _We need locate Black Hawk first._ Two of us will hold off the kaiju while the other one attempts to find where Romanoff and Barton have gotten to. If we want things to turn around, we’re going to need to find them from wherever they are.”

“ _I will take Loki,_ ” Thor says immediately, and nobody questions it—it’s a decision they all agree on unanimously. Loki is very much for Thor to deal with, as much as possible. 

“ _Thor will be one of the two to keep the kaijus as well as Loki occupied,_ ” Rogers corrects himself. “ _Which means it’s either Bucky and me or the two of you. Which are you guys more comfortable with?_ ”

This is a decision that they have to be careful with, and Tony does realize that fact. He wants to tell Rogers that they need a moment to discuss this before making any decisions, but then Bruce speaks up before he has a chance to start talking, apparently already having made the decision for them. “We’ll find them; you should help Thor with the kaijus.”

Bruce nods in acknowledgement, and Tony turns his gaze to Bruce, gaze and voice both questioning. “Are you sure about this?” It’s… certainly not something he had expected Bruce to say, and to volunteer them like this. Not that he was saying ‘no’, certainly, but the way Bruce did it was not what he had expected.

Another nod from Bruce. “It’s the most logical choice. The Captain’s experienced, and he can handle himself in a fight—we can’t, especially not with numbers like these and our lack of lengthy combat experience. Plus we’re the most equipped to find them at this point. So it would make sense that we should find them.”

Tony has to admit that Bruce has more than a few fair points there. “Alright,” he agrees with a nod of his own, and looks towards Rogers. “You heard the big guy, Rogers. We’ll pick up Romanoff and Barton before crashing the party.”

“ _Don’t crash it too soon,_ ” Barnes makes a wry remark from Rogers’s side at the background.

“Leave at least one for me to punch out at the end,” Tony shoots back easily.

The brief banter only earns them an eyeroll from Rogers, but he recovers quickly and glances at both Bruce as well as Tony. “ _Stay safe, you two. And be sure to come back here once you’ve found Romanoff and Barton._ ”

“Got it, Captain,” Bruce replies both of them. “You stay safe as well.”

“ _As well as we can be in a fight._ ” A wry smile tugs at the corner of Rogers’s lips, but he tries not to let it show and nods at them once more. “ _See you soon, Gamma Arc._ ”

“Until later, Liberty Winter,” is the response from Bruce, and Rogers does give them a brief smile this time before the connection ends and the screen shuts itself off.

There’s a pregnant pause after the transmission, one that perhaps speaks for itself. Bruce remains looking at the spot where the screen had been while Tony takes a second to draw in a slow breath and center himself, coming to terms with the fact of what they had chosen and what they were going to do. Trying to maneuverer around four kaiju was not going to be easy at all, and with any lack of information right now trying to pin point where Black Hawk would be nearly impossible considering there was nothing but sea around them for miles and miles. 

“You know,” Tony starts to break the silence. “It would be really embarrassing if we found out that the two of them got cut off because they didn’t have footing and fell into a chasm or something.”

The words get out a snort from Bruce. “I would never let Clint live it down if that was the case.”

“ _Your schemes will end today, Loki,_ ” Thor’s voice bellows through the still-open channel they have going. “ _And I will bring you back—by my own hand._ ”

“ _Spare your words,_ ” is all that Loki says in return. “ _I will show you how futile your attempts are going to be right here and now. Humanity will fall by my hand._ ”

“ _Not if we can help it!_ ” Barnes and Rogers there, their voices picked up through the channel with Thor, and on the map Tony can see Liberty Winter moving in to Loki and his kaiju cronies. The kaiju start to move as well—each of them seem to be homing towards different targets, and it takes a quick calculation to determine their trajectory and thus where each of them were headed.

He turns to Bruce after studying the map, one eyebrow raised. “We’ve got at least one kaiju making its way to us. If we want to find Romanoff and Barton, we’re going to have to shake it off somehow.”

Bruce nods in acknowledgement. “Time to stop standing around, then,” he states, and Tony fully agrees with that comment. The two of them don’t waste another moment and get ready. The communication they had with Thor ends, and the screens shift around, moving to the side so that they would not impede their way and the motion controls make themselves visible once more. This is something the two of them have done enough times to be familiar with by now—and it is something to think about, how they’re used enough to it by now, but at this moment there are more things to be concerned about on their plate.

“JARVIS, display the last location where Black Hawk’s transmission was recorded,” Tony instructs, and moments later an indicator pops up on the map. Tony takes note of the location and Bruce instantly gains awareness of it too through their link. 

Tony knows he doesn’t need to ask if Bruce is ready—he _knows_ that Bruce is ready. The two of them are about as ready as they can ever be. “Let’s go,” he says, and the two of them move in unison, getting Gamma Arc to start moving once more and begin their mission.

Everything changes the moment they start to move; Thunder Bridge and Liberty Winter begin their attack on Loki just as they begin, and chaos instantly breaks loose between all of them. Even without the channel they had open both of them can hear the roar that comes from Thor as Thunder Bridge charges straight towards Loki on the map. Liberty Winter comes close as well, but tactfully keep their distance to give Thor and Foster their space for battle and go against the other kaiju in order to keep them off Thor.

There are roars and shouts and explosions starting to happen everywhere but Tony does his best to tune them out, forcing them into the background as he focuses on the task they’ve chosen to take. Beside him Bruce is already becoming a pillar of focus and concentration, all his energies delved into the drift and green glow of his eyes are becoming more prominent than ever, as are the lights around them both. This is Bruce giving his all, and it would be a disservice to him if Tony didn’t do the same as well.

Shutting his eyes, Tony puts his mind into the drift as well, reaching for Bruce and fully connecting their minds together—and the rush of energy and power is something he’ll never forget for the rest of his life. This is one of the many reasons why being next to Bruce is such an overwhelming experience; it’s always so hard to remember just how much energy and potential Bruce hides within him until Tony experiences it for himself. There’s the constant thrum of power humming inside of him, churning lowly, leaving untapped until they need it. 

The connection they have this time is deep, Tony realizes—even deeper than before, deeper than the previous times since the incident. It had been a progressive thing Tony had felt ever since they started to drift again, but this almost feels unnatural. It almost feels like they’re one instead of two, a single entity spilt into two instead of the opposite and he feels it all. He can feel Bruce breathing in sync with him, their thoughts melding and fusing, his own energy combined with Bruce’s caution. They’re perfect, together, whole, and nothing has ever been better.

Gamma Arc moves with perfect precision, never faltering in its step as Bruce and him move together with flawless unison. The battle is still raging but even that too is now nothing but background noise to the connection he and Bruce have right now. It’s reminiscent of the first time they had drifted together all that time back a few months ago, when Tony had felt how connected they were. Here, it’s a confirmation of just how they were made for each other, how suited they were for one another and if it wasn’t for the situation Tony might have said or thought something stupid right there and then.

—or perhaps he did, because he feels a brush of amusement from Bruce’s mind which perhaps reveals quite a bit but now isn’t the time, too. Tony sends back his own response in the form of his own surge of amusement, and the two of them keep on moving, trying to outpace the kaiju that’s following them while the others battle against Loki nearby. As they move JARVIS manages to calculate the relative distance between them and the last pinpointed location of Black Hawk, putting up an ETA for them to keep track of as well as another one that keeps a lookout on the kaiju that’s chasing them. 

“Do an initial analysis of all the kaijus on the field here,” Tony commands as he keeps an eye on the new information that has been put up for them. It doesn’t look like they’re too far from where they need to be—but Gamma Arc isn’t exactly the fastest Jaeger around and moving around in what could be best described as shaky terrain wasn’t helping either. Hell, Tony doesn’t even know how the seabed isn’t ten thousand feet below when they’re far off from any sort of land that was around. A part of him personally thinks it’s much more than just mere coincidence. 

But again: another time. They keep on moving, making sure to never stop so that the kaiju after them has less of a chance of catching up. JARVIS takes another moment to finish the scan, and a new screen pops up in front of Tony with the information that the sensors has managed to gather.

“Looks like we got a bit more than we bargained for,” Tony states, even though he knows that Bruce is already aware of the new information, considering how JARVIS had projected the same information over to Bruce’s side as well. “The one that’s with Loki is actually a Cat 4.”

 _Can’t find myself that all surprised,_ Bruce thinks rather than says it aloud, a habit that Tony is used to by now—when they’re this connected Bruce doesn’t tend to speak, instead finding it easier to just communicate through their link. Tony can’t exactly fault Bruce for that—he would do the same as well, had he been more of the type to think rather than constantly voice out his thoughts and ideas. It was one of the little things that set them apart, but at the same time it set a good balance between them.

Tony gives the rest of the information a glance before he sets it aside with the other screens to look back at later. “You know what they say. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” He flashes a small grin at the end of those words, and he would give a thumbs up sign as well if it wasn’t for the fact that his hands were currently occupied. 

At the very least, Bruce can tell what Tony intended to do through their link, and he rolls his eyes slightly in response. _The same could be said with any of us._

“We’ll be fine,” Tony easily reassures Bruce, and it’s easy because he believes it. Bruce is fantastic, and with the two of them together in Gamma Arc they were virtually unstoppable. Even after what Loki had done the last time they had come back from in stronger and better, almost inseparable now and with them together there was nothing that could hold them back. Still, Tony supposes he can understand a little scepticism and paranoia—it keeps them focused and on the ground, not too carried away with their own accomplishments because that was the worst thing they could do right now. 

Bruce knows that Tony is aware of this by now, which is why he doesn’t say anything and simply channels his focus back to what they were doing. Tony easily does the same, and the movements of Gamma Arc speed up as they continue to make their way to their destination. 

The kaiju is pretty persistent, though, and no matter how quick they try to be the kaiju is undeniably catching up to them, and when it gets nearly close enough to attack them JARVIS flashes the proximity alarms to let them know of the danger. Tony gives the warning signs a glance and then at the kaiju information from earlier to see exactly which kaiju they had coming after them. “Cat 3, codename: Lumberjack. You’d think SHIELD would come up with better names by this time.”

_With a Jaeger having the name of Gamma Arc, I’m not keeping my hopes up._

“Hey, Gamma Arc is a totally awesome name.”

_Whatever you say, Tony._

Still, it’s not that hard to see why SHIELD would give it a name like that. There are blades all over its body, curved and wicked like the talons of an eagle—except about a million times worse. It definitely looked like that the kaiju could slice them up in seconds if they got too close. Good thing Gamma Arc was more equipped for far ranged combat.

“We need to put some distance between us and Lumberjack first before we can attack him,” Tony states out, earning him a snort from Bruce because saying it aloud when they were connected through the neural link was pretty dumb, justification aside. But Tony just pushed on since it was easier for him to voice his thoughts aloud as opposed to thinking them—his brain works too fast for even him to process sometimes. “JARVIS, activate the leg thrusters.”

“ _Leg thrusters engaged,_ ” JARVIS complies with the order a split second later, and engines below hum to life as the thrusters get activated. The boosters set around the thigh of Gamma Arc flare as they activate, and the two pilots quickly snap into action, directing the Jaeger into a sprint before the thrusters reach maximum power. The kaiju, somehow having guessed that something was up, started to quicken its pace, but Tony and Bruce already have a head start and the thrusters were moments away from reaching one hundred percent.

Even with that said though, it’s still all a pretty close thing. The kaiju doesn’t relent, instead coming ever closer with every second that passes despite them moving too, and even with all his confidence Tony is almost certain that the kaiju is indeed going to get them. That is until the thrusters flash green on the screen and that’s the only indicator Tony needs. “JARVIS, now!”

There’s no announcement from the AI this time; once the command is given the thrusters roar aloud as they activate, giving Gamma Arc the needed boost it requires to get off the ground in a startling leap once Tony and Bruce manage to get the controls down.

The jump is by no means far or fantastic, but it’s more than enough to do the job and puts enough distance away from Lumberjack. Gamma Arc twists around as they fall back down as per the laws of gravity, landing back into the sea with a thunderous splash of water that literally sends out tsunami waves from the impact of their landing. At least none of them would actually make landfall. 

Inside the Jaeger there’s only minimal interruption as the pilot cabin had been made to withstand even the strongest of disturbances. Both Tony and Bruce remain wholly focused, Gamma Arc only requiring a moment to recover before they can start the battle. Lumberjack had been taken aback by the sudden movement of the Jaeger, but it too recovers soon enough and roars out a challenge, bladed tail lashing out in challenge.

Bruce doesn’t waste a moment more and goes into action; he raises his arm and draws out the repulsor set in the palm of Gamma’s Arc hand, and the tell-tale hum of charging sounds from below them. Tony looks over to his co-pilot and raises an eyebrow. “Is that what you’re going to lead with?” He can’t help but ask incredulously, because _really_ , the repulsors were pretty cool but there were other weapons on the Jaeger they could use now while they still had the distance. 

All Tony gets in response is a shrug from Bruce. _It’s the first thing that came to mind,_ comes the admission.

“All those smarts and the first thing you go to are the _repulsors_ ,” Tony mutters under his breath. He barely manages to stop himself from shaking his head as he raises his own arm to draw out his own set of weapons—shoulder mounted launchers, another launcher from the arm on his side and to top it off, the repulsor set on the other hand of Gamma Arc as well.

 _You brought out the repulsors anyway,_ Bruce decides to point that fact out to Tony.

“You started it first,” Tony retorts right back before he starts the command for the weapons to charge, and the humming from before increases in volume as all the weapons prepare to fire.

Lumberjack lets loose another roar and begins to charge forward, intent on striking against the Jaeger and attempting to cause serious damage, if not an outright killing strike. The kaiju was fast, but Tony was a genius _and_ the creator of the Jaegers and when it came to the Jaeger _he_ was going to operate, he was going to ensure that they would always be at their top form.

“ _Weapon charge complete,_ ” JARVIS announces helpfully.

Tony doesn’t even need to give the command—the moment the charge is done they all fire at once, repulsors and missiles alike. All of them instantly hone towards Lumberjack, and the kaiju roars as all the attacks hit it in one go, the contact announced with a giant explosion that joins in with the other crashes and explosions that presumably come from the fight Liberty Winter and Thunder Bridge are tangled up with.

More than that, though, Tony is well aware that an attack like that is hardly enough to even be able to faze the kaiju. While the explosion settles he and Bruce step back, piloting Gamma Arc to make up for the space they lost when Lumberjack was charging at them earlier. 

_Round two?_ Bruce asks once they had moved back, giving Tony a questioning glance.

 _Round two,_ Tony agrees, this time through their link, and quickly commands for more weapons to be drawn out. Bruce readily follows, and this time even more missiles and repulsor blasts join in the barrage as the weapons begin to charge up again. As the charge happens the last bits of the previous explosion finally settle, revealing Lumberjack relatively unscathed and unharmed. The kaiju shakes off the last of the attack and throws its head up in a loud roar, issuing a clear sign that it isn’t going to back down. Not that Tony expected anything else otherwise.

Once Lumberjack is done with its roar it readies itself once more and starts charging at them again, but it doesn’t manage to get far. The weapons screen flashes green once everything is fully charged and Tony instantly gives the command to fire. A hail of missiles and repulsor blasts rain down on Lumberjack for the second time, this volley at least double the size and power of the previous one.

It doesn’t end there, obviously. Both Tony and Bruce make sure to keep up their attack—after every shower of missiles and bullets they recharge once more as the explosion and dust settles, attacking again once they have the all green. They make sure to keep up their distance while they do so, ensuring that Lumberjack doesn’t have a chance to get close enough to attack them. 

Eventually after about another five more rounds or so of those attacks the two of them relent for a moment, just enough so that the sensors can scan through all the dust and steam and see if they had managed to do enough damage to Lumberjack for them to get in close and deal the final blow. They had incredible firepower in terms of far range combat, but the best way to ensure that a kaiju remained dead was to strike it when it was close. There were enough stories about Jaegers who lost a fight because a kaiju happened to be smart enough to play possum.

There’s a pause as JARVIS works on the sensors, attempting to scan the area where Lumberjack is to determine its status. Both Tony and Bruce wait with bated breath, weapons at the ready. They were already all charged up for another round if they needed to, but Tony hoped it wouldn’t get to that—the arc reactor powering Gamma Arc might be strong, but it wasn’t infinite. At the rate they were going and considering how this battle was going, there might be a chance they would run out of energy before the battle was over.

That was something he would have to keep in mind after all of this.

JARVIS flashes the relevant information on their screens once the scan is complete, and the both of them glance through it. From the calculations it seemed like Lumberjack had taken considerable damage—one or two more barrages, and it should be weak enough to be taken down at close range.

The duo start readying their weapons, intent on firing right away, but the proximity warnings begin to flash all of a sudden and JARVIS informs them of the situation. “ _Sirs, another Catergory 3 is headed in your direction._ ”

That was not good news at all. Tony cursed mentally, knowing that Bruce would be able to hear it. _Can you take care of it, Bruce?_

 _You got it._ Bruce shifts the trajectory of his side of the volley, hand waving as he does so. The Jaeger responds to the command and the components on the arm that Bruce is controlling shifts, retracting back and reassembling itself into the same repulsor cannon that nearly destroyed the Shatterdome back during their first encounter with Loki.

Tony can’t help but smirk somewhat at that, his amusement radiating through their link. _Way to make a statement, Bruce._

Despite the words, Bruce’s response is anything but innocent. _I have no idea what you’re talking about._

“ _Repulsor cannon locked on target,_ ” JARVIS informs them both.

The smirk on Tony’s face shifts into a full on grin. “Alright,” Tony says, and as much as he loves a countdown there isn’t much time for one now, so he goes straight to the main event. “Fire!” 

All the weapons on both sides of the Jaeger fire at once—the barrage of missiles and repulsors on Tony’s end, and the giant repulsor cannon from Bruce’s side of things. The roar of the cannon is especially loud as it sets off, but to Tony is probably one of the best sounds he’s heard in this battle thus far, doubly so when they hit their targets with giant explosions that rock the area once more.

Really: whoever had said that fighting giant monsters with giant robots was dumb obviously did not live enough to experience its sheer awesomeness. 

Gamma Arc stands down for a moment in order to recharge, and Tony takes that chance to get an update on how that last attack went. “JARVIS, status update on our targets.”

“ _Scanning in progress._ ” One of the by-now usused screen lights up with a status bar as the scanners begin to sweep once more for the information they need.

 _It’ll probably take a lot more than what we did to take them down,_ Bruce intones through their link as usual, and Tony can feel a hint of wariness at the end of that sentence. Sometimes Tony is one to think that Bruce is perhaps a bit _too_ paranoid, but then paranoia is what had kept Bruce alive until SHIELD picked him up. Tony isn’t going to overlook what Bruce’s gut tells him to.

Tony nods. “Well, at least we know that the earlier one is going down sooner or later.”

 _Better sooner than later._ Bruce adjusts some of the things on his screen and eyes them curiously. _I hope the Captain and the others are okay._

There’s a dry snort from Tony in response to that comment. _Save that worry for us instead, Bruce. Rogers and the rest will be just fine._ They were all trained fighters after all—even Foster, who had at least a year or more worth of combat experience even before the two of them had did their first drift. All of them could handle themselves out there without any issues.

A beep sounds from JARVIS there and then, but the words announced were not what Tony had been expecting. “ _Proximity alert._ ”

Knowing that there wasn’t time to check the screens, Tony quickly switches to the Jaeger controls once more. _Bruce!_

 _On it._ Thankfully Bruce’s paranoia already has him with the controls, so the two of them don’t waste another moment more before they activate the thrusters enough to drive them backwards. They move just in time, backing off moments before part of the sea they had been on tremble and then literally explode, sending sprays of the sea everywhere along with bits of the ocean floor below.

Tony and Bruce ready themselves as the steam and spray clears off, revealing whoever it was that attacked them—and then Tony pauses once he sees exactly _what_ it is and he can only do nothing else but be utterly stunned by the sight. “…Black Hawk?”

Beside him Bruce is gasping as well, and his reaction is hardly a surprise. The very Jaeger they had been looking for was now right before them, somehow having burst out of the sea below. It looks relatively beat up and scratched, but that was nothing new for a Jaeger in combat. Everything did look okay, but somehow… maybe it was Bruce’s paranoia getting to him, but Tony had a bad feeling about this.

“JARVIS, start—” Tony begins to instruct his AI on what to do, but a transmission window opens before them both and the two of them now stare at the distressed face of Romanoff before them.

Bruce is the one who speaks first. “What happened?”

Romanoff can only shake her head, as if the act of simply doing that is taking a large toll on her. “ _Get Loki,_ ” she gets out in-between gritted teeth, and glares harshly at the both of them. “ _Get him before it’s too late._ ”

“Rogers and Thor are on it with their partners,” Tony quickly informs her as he attempts to process what is going on. Something is clearly wrong, but what could it be? “I had JARVIS try to connect you, but he got cut off. What’s going on?”

There’s a pause as Romanoff seemingly attempts to struggle with getting out an answer, but eventually she just manages a single word. “ _Jörmungandr._ ”

Jörmungandr. Both Bruce and Tony remember that word—it something in regards to what Loki had said to them the first time they met. _Being this close to Jörmungandr jams any of your pesky human signals. You won’t get to anybody no matter how you try, Rangers._ Clearly, the fact that it was mentioned while Romanoff was in this state meant something important. Something that they hadn’t figured out just yet, but it still had to be important somehow. 

“What is that?” Bruce quickly attempts to find out the mystery of that word, and Tony can’t blame him—not after the last time. “What exactly is this Jörmungandr? Have you seen it? Is it here right now?”

There’s a pause from Romanoff, but eventually she manages to nod—once, and slowly, the effort of it obviously taking a lot out of her. After that response Bruce attempts to try and ask her more questions, but before he can do so she speaks once more, the tone of her voice this time far more forced than before. “ _Get… out._ ”

Tony frowns, instantly concerned. “Get out?” he echoes softly, his own paranoia now quickly joining Bruce’s. After all, when a person like Natasha Romanoff tells you to leave, it’s clear that something very wrong is happening. Logically, it was sound advice to take follow what she said and at least put some distance between them. 

But for better or for worse, Romanoff was part of the team. He couldn’t just leave her behind just because she said so—not when there were so many deaths on his hands already.

He can feel Bruce’s resolution beside his own as he comes to that agreement, knowing that Bruce would be behind him in this, and that’s one of the best things Tony can ask for right now at this point. He focuses back on Romanoff and attempts to study her seriously through their transmissions. “What’s going on with your end? Why are you telling us to get out?” As far as he could tell everything seemed to be okay; Black Hawk was intact, Romanoff didn’t seem to be injured and Barton—

“Where’s Barton?” Tony quickly starts to ask.

Bruce blinks, as if having realized that fact as well, and his gaze instantly hardens and Tony can feel a huge surge of concern coming forth. “Where’s Clint? What happened to him?”

Romanoff grits her teeth at this point, looking even more stressed than ever. “ _Get out!_ ” she manages to say it properly this time, and there is something in her voice that strikes close enough for both Tony and Bruce to listen. The both of them pilot their Jaeger, getting Gamma Arc to step back just in time before one of Black Hawk’s specialized weapons pass the spot where they had been moments ago.

The two are momentarily stunned, taken aback by the attack. What was going on? What was Romanoff doing? None of this was making sense, but Bruce seemed to be putting the pieces together somehow, making an assumption of his own and attempted to confirm it with his next question. “Agent Romanoff. Are the actions of Black Hawk right now of your own will? Shake your head if your answer is ‘no’.”

A brief pause hangs between all of them after that question, and Tony holds his breath, waiting as Romanoff tries to move again, shaking her head—and then he stares as she shakes it, confirming what Bruce had been guessing at. Somehow, Black Hawk was moving without the direction of its pilots; an impossible fact, considering how a Jaeger moved in the first place. But then, if Romanoff was there and wasn’t controlling it…

“What about Barton?” he questions again. What happened to him?

Romanoff gives Tony a glare that might have killed people if it wasn’t for the situation, and then she forces out the answer through her teeth. “ _Alive._ ”

 _I’m guessing whatever Jörmungandr is, it got to Clint first,_ Bruce theorizes grimly in their link before he nods at Romanoff. “If we stop this Jörmungandr, will it help you. Nod if it’s a ‘yes’.”

Another moment, and then Romanoff manages to do so. And now they had a new target to accomplish: taking out this Jörmungandr. Whatever it is. That, of course, brought Tony to another point: “Can you at least give us an idea of what this Jörmungandr is? Otherwise we’d be hunting in the dark here.”

Something in Romanoff’s gaze shifts then. “ _Kaiju,_ ” she manages after a beat.

So Jörmungandr was a kaiju. They were getting somewhere now—a kaiju, they could still handle. “Is it here now?”

“ _Yes._ ”

“Can you give us a hint?” Bruce, this time.

“…” Her gaze hardens once more, and even though the answer is clearly forced out the vile in her response is easily audible. “ _Loki._ ”

Loki. Tony only needs a moment to put two and two together. Jörmungandr was a kaiju, and it was with Loki. Or to be more specific, it was the kaiju that Loki was standing on right now. The kaiju that Thunder Bridge and Liberty Winter were fighting against at this very moment.

 _Shit,_ the both of them think at once, just as the proximity alarms start to sound once more.

“ _Kaiju attack incoming,_ ” JARVIS warns them this time. Bruce and Tony don’t waste another moment and shifts into action once again, taking control of Gamma Arc and evading the bladed tail that lashes towards them. Lumberjack growls as it stumbles into view, looking obviously injured but still fighting on—as all kaijus did. They did nothing but fight and crush until their very last breath.

The both of them only have a moment to regain themselves before the alarms flashed once more and they were forced to evade another attack, this time by the other kaiju from the other side. Tony glanced at the screen as the sensors managed to bring up new information regarding the other kaiju they were now up against.

 _Another Cat 3—this one codenamed Spitfire. Seriously, after all of this I’m going to give them a crash course on naming things, their choices are just getting ridiculous._ Lumberjack? Spitfire? What was going to be next, Frostmourne? SHIELD really needed to fire the guy who was naming these things—if Tony wasn’t so busy with his own things, he might even be willing to fill in the position. Heck, he might just do it even if he was busy. That was just how badly SHIELD was going to need help in that department.

Rather than being amused, which would be his usual reaction, instead Bruce did nothing more than let out a quiet huff. _Rather than focusing on that, I would rather we focus on our current predicament._ That was all said in a tone which Tony knew well enough by now. It was the ‘things are now serious’ tone for Bruce, which meant that there was no more time for talk, only action. Considering their situation, Tony could hardly blame him.

Shifting himself back into action, he focuses back on the controls and directs Gamma Arc with Bruce. There was no more talk, but through their link Tony could grasp flashes of what Bruce was planning next. Other people might have next to no clue at all what it might all mean, but Tony wasn’t just anybody. He was a genius, and he was also Bruce Banner’s co-pilot—the best combination anybody could hope to ask for.

The thrusters that had been fixed on set points upon Gamma Arc roar to life, giving the Jaeger a much needed boost of speed as both Bruce and Tony started to go on the defensive at first, using their increased speed to evade each of the kaiju’s attacks as they came. As much as Tony hated the naming conventions that SHIELD seemed to employ, he had to admit that they made sense—especially when Spitfire started to hurl fireballs at them from its mouth. 

They really were going to need to take out Lumberjack first if they hoped to get anywhere with Spitfire with the rate things were going. The kaiju was already injured enough to be defeated; all they needed was an appropriate opening. If Black Hawk was still operational they might have a chance, but with the way Romanoff had been, not to mention Barton…

 _We never really asked what was wrong, you know,_ Tony states for the record so that Bruce could hear it.

 _The specifics hardly matter right now,_ Bruce returns pointedly. _The fact is that something is wrong, and if it’s wrong enough that we’re told to move back, we should do so._

_Not that I don’t agree, but still—_ Tony finds himself cut off as Spitfire roars and lets loose another fireball towards them. The thrusters flare once more as Gamma Arc evades the attack swiftly, the sea shifting with every movement they make and even with the weight of the Jaeger it’s easy to feel the pressure of the water that pulls and tugs at them. If they weren’t careful, that pressure might end up working against them as well.

The heat of the fireball is close enough to the water this time to evaporate it as it passes, causing a layer of steam to rise up and surround the area. Tony swears under his breath as the steam enshrouds them as well as everything in their general vicinity, effectively blocking their vision in the next few minutes. JARVIS attempts to aid them by activating Gamma Arc’s thermo vision mode, which does at least ease their troubles by a little. A very little bit.

Tony waves the arm on his side to try and chase away some of the steam, although it is far too thick to actually be able to put a dent into it like that. “Did Loki get Spitfire to come here? Because otherwise I might actually have to get concerned about Rogers and the rest.” The fact that Spitfire is now coming after them is actually worrying enough, because it showed that even the combined power of Liberty Winter and Thunder Bridge wasn’t enough to occupy Loki entirely—especially if he had the time and effort to send Spitfire over here instead of going to put up against the others.

He thinks about Jörmungandr again, and hopes that the rest of them can hold up long enough for things to somehow turn in their favour, even if he isn’t one to believe in such things. But losing would mean a lot of bad things in general, starting with the possible destruction of the world, and Tony doesn’t hate the world _that_ much to want something like that to happen. Sure, the world is a pretty shitty place to be in most of the time, but there was Bruce. And a world that had Bruce it in still at least made it tolerable.

Bruce looked like he was going to respond, but his attention was directed by something else and then he was shouting aloud, “Tony! Defend!”

Tony follows without thinking twice; he raises his arms just as Bruce did on his own end, directing Gamma Arc to follow their moves just in time to block the strike of a fist that had been aimed at them in the mist. In fact, it was a very familiar fist, and as it drew back both Tony as well as Bruce could do nothing but stare in shock, so taken aback they were by it all.

After the moment, Tony is the one who reacts first, shouting aloud through an open channel. “Black Hawk, what the hell is the matter with you?!”

This time there’s no response whatsoever from the Mark V—nothing at all, not even a transmission from Romanoff like what she had done (managed?) earlier. Tony had no idea what was going on, but what was obvious right now was that they were in a very bad place. Two Category 3 kaijus and a Jaeger… Gamma Arc was the best of the best, yes, but even it wasn’t built to stand an attack that came like this. Heck, Tony hadn’t even considered what would happen when a Jaeger was forced to fight against _another_ Jaeger. Or at least, Tony sure as hell hopes that this _is_ all forced. He doesn’t really want to think about the alternatives.

Bruce, at least, is calm enough to look at this rationally. _I’m pretty sure none of this is all under their control. Something else must be controlling the Jaeger._ It’s not an impossible theory, of course, but there is one problem with it that Tony does need to clarify before he can take it as fact.

 _If they’re not controlling it, then how can Black Hawk even move?_ The whole basis of the Jaeger was the neural connection. If they weren’t linked to their Jaeger, then it was impossible for the Jaeger to even be able to move in the first place. There was no way a Jaeger could move when the pilots weren’t connected—and excluding Bruce, just about anybody who tried to pilot a Jaeger alone would be nearly tantamount to suicide.

Bruce shakes his head at the question. _I’m not saying they’re disconnected,_ he clarifies himself, _I mean, if the Jaeger could move without them, there’s no reason for either of them to remain in their Jaeger in the first place. The fact that they’re still there means that they’re still needed for the Jaeger to move—but instead of them moving it, something must have hijacked the signals somehow. They’re still powering the Jaeger, but its movements are presumably beyond their control._

Those words make Tony think about their previous encounter with Loki once more, about the strange blue sceptre the other hand in his hand and the way it had caused Bruce so much pain. That as well as the words he had said— _Ten bucks that Jörmungandr is somehow involved in this_.

 _Agent Romanoff did mention that name earlier,_ Bruce notes mildly, but Tony can feel the hum of agreement that lie beneath those words. Well, at least that was one mystery solved. But that still left them with a whole slew of problems to handle, starting with the severely outnumbered battle they were still up against. 

Tony glances left and right across their surroundings, eyeing the three opponents who were all slowly moving to crowd around them. _Well first things first—any idea on how we can take out our kaiju buddies?_

 _If I had one, you would know by now,_ comes the dry response. Tony supposes he can’t argue with that logic, even if hearing that is kind of really discouraging at the moment. They need a plan, and soon—before Gamma Arc gets pummelled down by a three-way attack.

The both of them nervously edge back, trying to put whatever distance that they can right now. _From what I can see, the only thing we can actually do at the moment is just throw out everything we’ve got and hope that it’s enough to make an opening._ It can hardly be called a plan at all, but it is better than having nothing at all. If they were going to go down here—which they would not, Tony would do his best to not make that happen—but if they somehow _did_ , at least they would still do down fighting. 

Bruce must have picked up on that thought, because he was already preparing the weapons, getting the both of them ready to launch into an immediate offensive. _Any last words?_

Tony knows it’s a joke, words that Bruce doesn’t really mean, but still right there and then he can’t help but state the first thing on his mind. _If we survive this I’m going to have make you have ‘thank god we survived’ sex with me._ He’s been wanting for a while and it has always been a law that whatever Tony Stark wants, he gets. But with Bruce it’s more than just that, more than enough for Tony to wait all this time but right now he just needs to get the words out. He has no intention of them dying this day, but on the rare off chance that they did, at least he wants Bruce to know that.

There’s a brief pause from Bruce after Tony gets those words out, and for a moment Tony is more terrified of the fact that he’s made Bruce put himself away more than what is happening right now. Tony is almost afraid to ask again or even speak but then there’s warmth, quiet and subtle and _there_ , and Bruce’s voice echoing in his mind through their link. _I’ll think about it._

While it’s not exactly a ‘yes’ like what part of Tony has been hoping, but it is stull far better than getting an outright negative response—especially considering how inappropriately timed it all is. But again: not an outright rejection, but rather something Bruce had said to be put for later consideration. It’s the best he can expect from Bruce right now.

Swallowing, Tony nods in response to Bruce’s answer, flashing him a small smile. _Once we’re done with this._ He isn’t one to have his hopes raised, but he can’t help but place a little bit on it on what Bruce has said. For as long as he had known Bruce the other man has never taken back his words, and hopefully that will apply to this as well. 

Bruce returns the smile with one of his own, honest and sincere as always, and after a beat the moment is over. The expression on his face hardens, and Bruce turns back to look at the kaijus through the screen. _Now, since we’ve made a promise to each other, let’s try and make sure we can actually keep it._

Tony can’t help it—the corners of his lips twist as he breaks into a grin. _You don’t need to tell me twice._ He instantly focuses his mind, putting himself in sync with Bruce and the feeling when they both fall into perfect unison with each other is nothing short of amazing. He can feel their energy in the drift, their minds linked in perfect harmony and even with the odds against them now, Tony doesn’t feel any sort of dread. He doesn’t fear the kaiju, or even their impending doom. All he knows is that Bruce is with him, and that when they’re together, there is nothing in the world that can stop them. 

He knows that Bruce can feel his confidence, and in return Bruce is giving back his own as well, letting it flow between them—and that confidence is more than enough to get them shifting into action. The first they do is to withdraw all the weapons that had been activated, shifting them back in so that they had their mobility once more and wouldn’t hinder anything that the Jaeger would do. This only left them with the repulsors as well as the thrusters, but that was fine. They could do this. They _would_ do this.

With them there’s no need for a signal or anything of that sort—they know the moment when the other is ready, and once they both know that its time they instantly they spring into action. A load roar sounds through the air as all the thrusters on Gamma Arc activate at once, and the both of them waste no more time as they make their move. 

All the Jaegers had been Tony’s work, but the Gamma Arc in particular was Tony’s pride and joy, doubly so after he became one half of its pilot team. Ever since he became a team with Bruce he had done a lot of work on this particular Jaeger and made sure that it was the best of the best. So despite its bulky size and utterly complex framework its speed was still something to be reckoned with, for Gamma Arc was much faster than most people expected a Jaeger like it to be.

They aim for Lumberjack first since it is currently the easiest of the three to take down. Things would have been trickier had the kaiju been in the middle, but fortunately for them it’s decided to flank one side of Black Hawk instead, with Spitfire on the other. Their target acquired, they swiftly go to the offensive; with the added speed given by the thrusters, Gamma Arc runs for Lumberjack as quickly as it can. Spitfire attempts to interrupt them by throwing a fireball in their direction, but Bruce reacts once he sees the blaze roaring towards them. He raises his arm and charges up the repulsor set in the palm of the Jaeger, and the familiar hum of energy comes for a brief moment before he lets the attack fly right towards the fireball.

The energy beam and the fireball meet each other in a giant collision of energy, and the result comes in the form of a giant explosion that also happens to send a huge gust of wind blowing out in all directions. They’re close enough to feel the strength of the wind nearly knocking them off balance while on the move, but the weight of the Jaeger helps to keep them on their feet—the same holds true for their opponents as well. 

It would have been nice if one of them did fall, but they had to take whatever they had. Tony and Bruce push on forward still, using the distraction of what happened earlier to take advantage and deal the first strike. Once they get close enough to Lumberjack the screens quickly lock on towards the best position to strike—a spot set at a gap in-between the blades that decorated the kaiju’s exterior—and the two of them follow through in the form of a punch which had been boosted by the thrusters set on its elbow joints.

When the strike hits there’s a loud _crunch_ of hard kaiju exoskeleton against the metal plating of Gamma Arc, but with the boosted velocity of the punch it’s strong enough to get through Lumberjack’s tough exterior. The kaiju roars in anger as it lumbers backward from the force of the attack, dripping dark green blood from the now gaping hole near its jaw as the broken bits that had been forcefully punched out fall into the ocean, each bit large enough to make a loud splash.

Of course, neither Bruce nor Tony is going to stop at just there, not when they still had another kaiju to defeat and an out of control Jaeger to subdue. JARVIS quickly locks onto another one of Lumberjack’s weak points and they strike once more, this time with the other arm also boosted with the thrusters. Another resounding _crunch_ rings out to their satisfaction when they manage to land the blow, and yet again Lumberjack is roaring, more agony than actual rage this time as the exoskeleton at the side of his neck breaks apart and crumbles into the ocean as well, revealing tendons and muscle along with a huge order of kaiju blood. Tony couldn’t help but think that if Geiszler were here, he might have started to swoon over all of this or something equally embarrassing.

There’s a soft snort from Bruce, showing that he had sensed Tony’s thoughts about Geiszler. Tony was far from apologetic about it though, and gave Bruce the mental equivalent of blowing a raspberry as JARVIS helped them locked onto the next weak spot to strike. Bruce shook his head in a familiar gesture of exasperation, but he quickly focused back to what they were doing at the beep of the lock on system and they struck the kaiju one more time with another punch, sending it further back from the line.

“ _Kaiju damage: eighty seven percent,_ ” JARVIS announces coolly, right before the screen locks onto not one but two spots on the kaiju this time around. It hardly takes a genius to know what that means. The two of them shift, arms swinging out so that they raised their palms out towards Lumberjack, and the hum of the repulsors began yet again as their weapons charged up. Lumberjack, which was by now severely injured and greatly hindered by said injuries, could do nothing more than attempt to lumber itself back together and swing its tail towards them, trying to go for one last attack before the repulsors could fire.

Maybe if it had been anybody else they might be worried, but he was _Tony Stark_ and a genius. And also more importantly: what kind of a (former) weapons manufacturer would he be if he didn’t know how to make weapons go kaboom as quickly as possible?

“ _Repulsors at one hundred percent._ ”

Tony grins and instantly fires the attack towards Lumberjack. The beams hit it before its tail could get anywhere near them, and the result is instantaneous. The repulsors enter and then swiftly exit at the next moment, burning right through Lumberjack’s exoskeleton and viciously going through its internal organs before they burst out from its back in a dying flash of light. 

The kaiju stands still right after the repulsors burn through its chest, and there’s a silence that stands startlingly strong despite them being in a battlefield right now. But once the moment passes the world resumes its course once more, and Lumberjack lets out a dying howl as it crumples and falls into the waters, the impact of its weight sending waves crashing around where it fell. 

There is no way that it could actually manage to survive and come out that still in one piece, but Tony wants to be doubly sure—and beside him he can feel Bruce’s agreement on the matter too. There’s a wordless agreement as the they raise a hand and aim it right at the kaiju’s head, and the repulsor charges up quickly before they deal the final blow. The force of the blast sends kaiju blood and brain matter flying everywhere, but that’s hardly an issue right now. What is important is that they managed to take down one kaiju, leaving them one other to go before they could start tackling the issue of Black Hawk and Jörmungandr.

And speaking of the other one… “JARVIS, locate Spitfire and lock on target,” Tony quickly commands. Spitfire somehow hasn’t attacked them while they were busy finishing up Lumberjack, which while is a fortunate thing is also a worrying thing at the same time. Spitfire could have easily taken advantage and tried to attack them while they were occupied, so why didn’t it…?

The answer quickly comes when the waters under them begin to bubble rapidly without warning, and the alarms are flashing again, although this time it’s not really due to the proximity. “ _Temperature core rising sharply, sir,_ ” he hears JARVIS informing them, a note of worry somehow evident in the AI’s voice.

Well, that certainly is nothing close to the news Tony that hopes to hear. They need to get out of the area now, and fast. “Thrusters, JARVIS!” Tony quickly snaps out while Bruce attempts to give them a head start by moving the Jaeger first. The backup balances are still there, of course, but Tony trusts Bruce and can believe that they’ll be fine. They will get through this without a problem at all.

Steam starts to rise around them as the temperature continues to increase with Spitfire’s imminent arrival, further hindering their progress as the cooling vents are made to work double time because of it. Still, it’s clear that the increasing temperature is not helping them at all—the energy of the cooling vents is sapping the energy they could have made use of to get them moving faster. Things only get worse when their slow progress meant that they were still trapped in area of boiling water. “ _Temperature core approaching critical levels._ ”

Not good, not good at all. Tony grits his teeth, feeling sweat starting to form on his forehead and focuses his energies on helping Bruce with the Jaeger. Gamma Arc was still slowing down from the heat, and at the rate they were going it was obvious that things were not going to get better. Once Spitfire did emerge from below they were as good as gone.

 _We’re not going to make out of this in one whole piece if this keeps up,_ Bruce says, his own voice terse and strained. They were in a pretty bad situation now, which was kind of unfair considering how things had been looking up just moments ago. But Tony knew he couldn’t let this stop him—stop them. If they gave up now, it would be all over; and it wouldn’t be just them that would suffer, but Barton and Romanoff in Black Hawk as well. The two of them were depending on him and Bruce to make it through—and there was no way he was going to give in to Loki after what he did to Bruce.

Tony ran through simulations in his mind, looking at the issue in whatever other angles he could think of right now and attempting to find a solution to their problem. The cooling vents were not going to last for much longer, and with Spitfire coming from below they were going to be toast pretty quickly. They needed to move, but at the same time both the heat and the heavyweight setting of Gamma Arc wasn’t helping with issues either. Unless they managed to throw off some weight—

Tony’s eyes lit up at that thought, an idea already quickly forming together in his mind. Of course. He should have thought about it earlier. He made sure to act quickly once it came to him, since there was Bruce who he did have to account form. Being linked to Tony meant that Bruce also must have at least felt an inkling of the idea that Tony had come up with, so he made sure to do things fast before Bruce had any time to react properly. “JARVIS, drop all thruster attachments on the joints.”

Bruce turns around and stares at him, clearly taken aback at that one moment, but by then it is too late. What comes next after his words is the clang and hiss of metal being depressurised from their fixed positions as all the attached thrusters are released at the same time as per Tony’s instructions. And since they were all released at the same time, it means that all of them also drop at the same time once they were released—right into the waters below them, complete with loud splash.

The result, of course, was pretty instantaneous. 

While they wasn’t going to be able to know the exact moment when the released thrusters hit Spitfire, but they could put an easy approximation from the way they could hear the kaiju’s angry roar despite it being underwater. The bubbling around them increases, but it’s without focus due to the kaiju being distracted and now that they’re not boggled down by the weight of the added thrusters mobility is much more easier than before, giving them a better edge now as compared to before. The two of them quickly take their chance and steer themselves clear of the danger zone by the time Spitfire recovers. As the kaiju surfaces after that and starts to turn itself towards them both Bruce and Tony get themselves ready, taking a few steps back to let the cooling vents do their work and also start to charge up the repulsors on Gamma Arc’s hands.

 _I’m not sure if I should scold you or congratulate you on losing all of our thrusters,_ comes the dry words from Bruce, the ever present ray of sunshine that he wasn’t even bothering to try and emulate. But that was fine—it wasn’t like Tony was asking it or anything in the first place. 

_You can decide on what to say later,_ Tony returns with a grin that slowly forms on his face as he flicks his hand to activate a few more things on Gamma Arc. _Besides, it’s not like we’re completely helpless. Gamma Arc has a few fixed thrusters in place._

He can easily hear Bruce’s huff of annoyance that follows his response. _Keyword being ‘a few’. That’s not exactly reassuring._ Even as Bruce says that, he’s moving along with Tony, shifting himself and adjusting Gamma Arc as needed until they’re in the optimal position. If anything, that’s one big obvious sign to show that Bruce is okay with his plan—a plan Tony didn’t even need to explain since they’re connected right now. He would have never said this last time, but now Tony can really start to see the benefits of this neural link thing. When he has somebody like Bruce with him, the things they can accomplish are pretty amazing. Though of course, it does help that Bruce is pretty amazing himself. 

Tony allows the grin to remain on his face. _C’mon, give me some credit here. When have I ever done anything to wrong you?_ With other people he would be a dick and do some pretty annoying things to piss them off, but with Bruce it’s a different story altogether. The guy is so zen about everything that it’s pretty freaking incredible, and it would be a lie if Tony wasn’t fascinated by the amount of control that Bruce had over himself. He had explained to Tony before why that control was necessary—but it mostly flew over his head since he wasn’t paying attention. All he knows is that Bruce has his control, and Tony can trust him with it. That is the only thing he needs to know.

There’s another huff from Bruce before he answers. _None, which is why I can’t help but worry._ His tone is wry, but Tony can’t feel any actual concern from Bruce, only trust—and that means a lot to Tony. A sign, perhaps, of how far they have come in regards to one another; where just months ago they had been total strangers, now they’re a pair that can put their faith in each other and that’s something Tony thought he could ever have again after the whole fiasco with Obadiah Stane.

 _Don’t worry so much, otherwise you’re going to get wrinkles._ Even though his tone and words are light Tony makes sure that Bruce can feel the gratitude behind that answer. Bruce responds with a quiet, fleeting surge of warmth that runs from him to Tony, and the sensation is not unlike having their hands clasped together. It’s a nice feeling, he decides.

There’s not much time to dwell on said feeling though—Spitfire soon makes its full turn around so that now it’s facing them, and from the growl they hear it doesn’t sound like the kaiju is that all happy with them. Which is of course exactly what Tony is aiming for in the first place; a cunning kaiju is a bitch to deal with, but once you make it angry it does tend to make things a lot easier. Of course, it also means that the kaiju isn’t going to stop until it manages to utterly destroy you, but Tony isn’t about to let that happen. Or at least, he isn’t going to let that happen to Bruce.

“Interior thrusters, JARVIS.” The hum of the engines sound one more time as the command goes through, and without another word both Tony and Bruce quickly get into position. They bend slightly, one arm raised up while the other hangs loose at the side, and the two of them eye Spitfire with a wary look. 

The kaiju in question growls yet again, steam and smoke spilling out from its nostrils in giant fumes that surround it. The effect of that combined with Spitfire’s reptilian look somehow makes the kaiju look like a dragon, if Tony is one to believe in things like that. And even if he did, a dragon would still go down against them as well. No matter what came up against him he would strike it down, because there was no way monsters would ever be better than men.

Not risking the chance to give Spitfire a proper edge, Gamma Arc gets on the move once the thrusters and repulsors are ready. Spitfire roars yet again at the moment they begin to move, quickly throwing out fireballs at them to block their path. Earlier it might have given them problems, but now with their increased mobility avoiding the attacks isn’t as much of a problem as it would be earlier. Gamma Arc avoids the fireballs with relative ease, taking advantage of a gap in between the attacks to fire off one of the repulsor blasts that have been charged earlier. 

Unlike the previous time Spitfire doesn’t manage to avoid the attack—the beam slips through the stream of fireballs and hits the kaiju directly. Tony’s made sure that the attack has enough damage to leave more than just a mark, and it pays out in the way Spitfire reels back, an agonized cry coming out from it as its tail trashes and lashes out in retaliation to the deep burn the repulsor beam has left on it.

A tail is quite a far difference from the weight of an entire kaiju trying to bulldoze them down, but it is still pretty dangerous especially considering the velocity of said tail. They fact that they’re close enough to get hit doesn’t help either—doubly so when it’s clear that they don’t have enough time to get away as well. The best they can do right now is to brace themselves and attempt to reduce the damage they’re going to take.

When the tail comes they’re about as prepared as they can for it. It slams into their side heavily, the impact shaking up the while Jaeger but Gamma Arc wouldn’t be the best of the best if an impact like that took it out. They recover from the impact within seconds, and once they do the both of them instantly move to grab the tail and keep it in place before Spitfire can draw it back. 

It doesn’t take long at all before Spitfire discovers what’s going on. The kaiju growls as it finds itself now restrained by its own tail, unable to move or shift whatsoever. It sets its gaze on Tony and Bruce, another puff of smoke steaming out from the gaps between its jaws before it attempts to reclaim back its own tail by tugging it back using its own body weight as leverage. Tony and Bruce grunt as the tugs force them to lurch forward bit by bit, but they keep their grip and make sure to keep their feet on the ground. After a few more unsuccessful attempts Spitfire roars, this time in frustration and Tony can see the flickers of flame that start to appear in its mouth as the kaiju prepares to fire out another fireball at them. 

Tony opens his mouth, ready to give the needed command for JARVIS to activate the repulsors once more, but Bruce acts first before Tony can start to go that far. He doesn’t call for JARVIS out loud the way Tony usually does, but through the screen he can see the shoulder mounted missiles on Bruce’s side being called out to their positions. He doesn’t waste any time on his actions; once they’re ready Bruce sends out the command, and immediately all the missiles were launched with their trajectories all directed towards the kaiju.

Just as Bruce and Tony were too close to avoid the lashing tail earlier, Spitfire was also too close to be able to actually evade the shower of missiles that Bruce had just launched towards it. The grip that they have on its tail only solidifies that fact, and so there is nothing else that Spitfire can do except to take it all. 

The missiles all hit their mark at almost the same time, showering Spitfire with a barrage of explosions and possibly a lot of shrapnel—Tony knew for a fact that Bruce spared no expense when it came to taking out the kaiju. An agonized roar comes from Spitfire as it’s pelted by the missiles, but with the kaiju there is no mercy whatsoever. Tony watches as Bruce commands out another wave of missiles to attack the kaiju once more, not even allowing a moment for it to possibly recover. It’s the fiercest he has ever seen Bruce become, and perhaps he should be terrified. Other people might be, considering how passive and kind Bruce usually tends to be.

But this. This side of Bruce, fierce and commanding and giving no quarter to his enemies—this, too, was part of Bruce. The part of him he rarely shows because Tony knows how much Bruce detests violence. But this wasn’t violence of violence’s sake; this was Bruce fighting because he wanted to, because there was something for him to fight for now. And Tony wasn’t sure what he should feel when he knew that the reason was _him_. It wasn’t spoken or even a conscious thing, but he could feel it, the strong surge of emotion that swelled up from Bruce and was solely directed to him. Tony could try and find the words to describe it, perhaps, but any word that he found could never be enough to fill in the gaps. That was the depth and strength of just how much he felt from Bruce. 

With emotions like that, no words are truly necessary—and besides, Tony has always been more on actions than words. He returns the gesture by making sure that their grip on Spitfire’s tail is strong and true, not allowing the kaiju to move or have the chance to escape the continuous barrage of missiles that Bruce keeps on showering onto it. Every new wave of missiles is accompanied by another one of Spitfire’s increasingly pained roars as the damage piles up. 

It’s a good while before the attacks finally cease—and that’s only because Gamma Arc ran out of missiles for Bruce to fire, a feat that Tony had thought to be impossible until now. The endless explosions from the missiles had long since brought up a whole wave of dust that surrounded Spitfire, so the two of them are made to wait until the dust settles to see exactly how the kaiju is now. Had it been a Cat 2 or Cat 1 it would have been toast a good while back, but Cat 3s were known quite well for their toughness and endurance—nowhere near the level of a Cat 4, of course, but it did prove durable enough for a long fight. And the thing about long fights is that the results could honestly go just about anywhere.

The dust slowly settles down, clearing up and Tony starts to ask JARVIS to scan the kaiju for a status update before a familiar voice interrupts them. “ _So, I see you two have been quite busy with my associates._ ”

Both Bruce and Tony instantly turn around, looking over in the direction of where the voice is coming from. Loki appears from his side of the battlefield with the kaiju they now recognize as Jörmungandr. As they approach closer Tony easily notices the way the screens are fritzing up, flashes of static jumping in and out of the different screens at random times. Whatever Jörmungandr was doing, it was clearly having a strong effect on Gamma Arc.

They make sure to keep their hold on Spitfire as the two of them eye Loki closely, doing their best to be prepared with whatever might happen next. After the disaster that was the last time they both had their beef with Loki, and if Loki pulled some stunt they were not expecting then things were very much not going to be in their favour from there. They had to keep on their toes and ensure that their minds were sharp—the two of them had trained and prepared themselves for this moment, to be ready to face Loki and all the tricks he had up his sleeve.

Tony is the one who speaks first. “What did your kaiju do to Romanoff and Barton?”

Through their screens they can see Loki give them a mocking smile. “ _Jörmungandr was made for you Rangers and your precious Jaegers. You’re hoping too much if you believe that your giant toy robots are more than enough to stop the inventible. No matter how you try to delay it, humanity will fall sooner or later._ ”

“We’re not here for your preachings,” Bruce snaps out quickly, and there’s an edge to his voice that doesn’t promise anything good in regards to whatever Bruce wants to do to Loki. “Tell it to stop controlling Black Hawk.”

It would be a miracle if Loki actually did that just because Bruce demanded it. Instead he simply just gives them a look that only screams of even more mockery. “ _Why do you even bother to fight so much? There’s no good end to this, you know. Especially the both of you. I’ve seen your memories and I know the both of you are more than familiar with the worst of humanity. Why do you still persist on helping them? You think they will help you just because you help them?_ ” Loki only shook his head slowly. “ _You are naïve then if you think such is a case. After this war ends your lives will only get worse, not better; never better, I think._ ”

Tony can sense the small bit of doubt that comes from Bruce at those words, the guilt quickly coming to eat at him like it always does. That had been Tony as well—still is, sometimes—but he’s not one to let himself be judged by other people, especially people like Loki. He didn’t need to explain himself to Loki, even if he may very well have a point.

“It’s not up to you to decide,” Tony returns, a hint of anger showing through his voice—anger that is more for Bruce than himself. Tony has long since stopped himself from caring about what other people thought of him. But Bruce is different. Bruce cares—too much, sometimes—and that which is usually his greatest strength is now being twisted around into his biggest weakness. It’s not fair to Bruce at all, and Tony sure as hell wants to finally be able to put that punch to Loki’s face now as payback.

The smile on Loki’s face widens at that answer. “ _It’ll be up to me to decide once I’ve cleared this planet of all you humans. I will usher in a new age, one that will no longer need to abide by life’s greatest lie._ ”

“And what would that be?” Tony questions back with a frown.

Loki almost seems amused this time while he replies. “ _Freedom, of course,_ ” he says oh so simply, and the mocking tone of his voice only seems to make itself a hell lot more evident. “ _With the bright lure of freedom hanging there humans lose themselves in a mad scramble for power, for identity—and so many other things. There’s no hope for them, not in this world. I’m only doing what is the most obvious and natural thing to do: bringing everything back to its natural order._ ” 

There’s a moment in where Tony honestly wonders if it’s appropriate for him to clap or not. Actually, he’s aware that it’s highly inappropriate if he does so, but really—one has to give points to Loki for just how completely off his rocker he was being. As far as crazies and egomaniacs go, he simply just tops the list with that little speech of his. Then again, other egomaniacs don’t exactly happen to somehow collaborate with kaiju and cause a whole list of troubles for everybody else, so it is pretty much a bit of a give and take. Tony, of course, would very much rather take dealing with egomaniacs who didn’t have fancy weapons in their hands any day.

But all of that aside— “So, what do you plan to do once everyone else has been wiped out? I mean, I can’t exactly see staying on Earth being a long term investment if there’s nothing left for you.” Maybe somehow, with all the crazy things that Loki is saying, he can figure out what to do. Being an egomaniac himself, Tony was well-aware of the many traits they have. One of them is liking to talk a lot.

Thankfully, Loki seems to share that very same trait. “ _Earth won’t be left empty_ ,” he reveals, lips curled in that still mocking smile. “ _It will be reclaimed by the original owners of this planet. They will purge this place properly and then start anew, with me taking the lead._ ”

“Who are these ‘original owners’?” Bruce, of course, who asks that with narrowed eyes. He’s entirely sceptical, of course, just as Tony is sceptical about it as well—but it is a fact that Loki has proven himself to be dangerous enough with his sceptre and somehow having the kaiju on his side. It would work in their favour if they could somehow find out how Loki even has the kaiju doing his bidding in the first place.

For a moment Tony is almost certain that Loki is going to answer question. His mouth opens, seemingly ready to boast out all his plans—but then he stops before he can say a word and his mouth closes, twisting into another one of his smiles.

“ _Trying to talk me into giving out my plans?_ ” he sneers, tone even more mocking than before, if that had been even possible. “ _Clever. But even if you know, there’s no stopping it. The kaiju will swarm this place eventually once the breach is fully opened. There’s no stopping that. What have I to fear?”_

The answer comes out from Tony before he really thinks it through. “Us, of course.”

Loki raises an eyebrow at that point, as if to say ‘really?’, so Tony just pushes on because there’s no way he’s going to lose steam to somebody like him. “Us, as in the Rangers, and their Jaegers. You know the taglines these days. ‘Humanity’s last hope, and all that jazz. People have really been buying into that.” If he could, Tony would have shrugged to complete the charade. “It gives them some hope or something, I suppose.”

“ _A futile effort,_ ” Loki counters with a shake of his head. “ _There’s no stopping what is already set in stone. Even your little team has no chance of turning things around._ ”

“Speaking of ‘my little team’,” Tony quickly starts there, raising a hand—and outside Gamma Arc follows the gesture as well, fingers ticking off every person that Tony mentions next. “Let’s do a little headcount here. Your brother, who’s pretty much one of the damned best pilots I’ve ever seen in my entire life, along with his equally kickass girlfriend who also happens to be an amazing scientist. Two former master assassins from happen to come from a formerly top secret spy organization who now pilot the fastest Jaeger in existence. The top Captain in the US Army, now regarded as a living legend, plus his also pretty legendary buddy in arms. And then there’s Bruce.” 

After ticking off the last name he lowers down his hand, only so he can point a finger towards Loki. “And you, mister, you just managed to make it personal for every single one of them, especially after the last stunt that you pulled.”

Loki, rather than being seemingly worried, just appears to be wholly unconcerned at all. “ _Perhaps that was the plan from the start,_ ” he answers simply.

“And not a great one at all,” Tony easily counters. “Because once the chance presents itself, they’re all going to come straight for you.”

“I have the kaiju,” Loki states.

“And we have our Jaegers,” Tony counters once again. “And if there’s one thing that the Jaegers can do, it’s to take the kaiju down for the count.”

“Up until now, yes,” Loki shifts slightly in his position, sceptre in his hand. “But somehow I don’t see that happening again anytime soon.”

“You’re not getting my point here.” He can feel Bruce’s uncertainty from beside him, his own doubts about where all of this is going to and to be honest Tony doesn’t either. But the words are coming somehow, not quite sure where they’re from but it _works_ and that’s the most important thing right now. “The point is there’s no version of events where you’re going to win here or come out on top. You’re going to wipe us out along with the Earth? Sure thing, but you still won’t win. There’s no throne here to claim, nothing here for you to prove. The kaiju are gonna come, and maybe we won’t be able to handle it—but guess what? It’s still going to be all on you. Because if we can’t protect this world, you’d better be damn sure we’re going to be here to avenge it.”

 _Tony,_ Bruce starts right after he finishes, but he doesn’t say anything beyond his name before falling silent once more. Instead of that uncertainty now Tony can sense something like awe coming from Bruce—awe and wonder, things that Tony is pretty sure he doesn’t deserve especially when it comes from Bruce. He doesn’t need it, really. All he had wanted to do is to make his point clear to Loki—the fact that he would never succeed, because the others would never allow it to happen. Tony isn’t the kind of guy who trusts others, but he can put at least that much faith in them for this.

He hardly expects for Loki to be impressed with his speech, but there’s nothing but an even more mocking look from him this time. His eyes are alight with barely disguised mirth, and there’s a twist to the mockery that has the hairs on the back of his neck rising in their hackles. “ _Those are some fine words you have said_ ,” he seemingly admits as he shifts his stance, twirling the sceptre in his hand, “ _and perhaps you may be right. But,_ ” he pauses here, and the smile grows, transforming into a sneer while he finishes his words, “ _what makes you think they’re going to have time for me, when they’re going to be busy trying to stop your partner?_ ”

 _What—_ Tony is caught off guard for a moment by that response, but then Loki stops twirling his sceptre and is pointing it at them, and once Tony sees the blue gem set at the top start to shine his blood instantly goes cold. Fuck, no, he wasn’t going to—

The gem seems to pulse, and then flare a bright, cosmic blue—and things instantly go to hell once more. He hears Bruce gasp beside him, his breath caught in his throat, and through their link Tony can see it all happening again. The incident, Harlem, Betty dying before his eyes, all that pain and anger and rage and that night, that terrible terrible night where he watched his mother die before his eyes and his father trying to strangle him to death as well—

Last time had been bad enough but now the memories are slamming into Bruce harder than ever, drowning him in it all and it’s no surprise that Bruce is following the RABIT down the hole once more. He can easily feel the way Bruce is trapped again, stuck in the endless cycle of his worst memories and of the nightmares that haunt his sleep every night. It’s so bad this time that Tony doesn’t even know if he can get Bruce out of it—but he knows that he has to. It’s up to him to do it. Bruce is depending on him for this.

So he goes again—back to the kitchen, back to that night where everything had changed for Bruce and the night where his world fell apart around him. He sees Bruce as a child again on the tiled floor, curled into a ball next to the lifeless body of his mother and crying for somebody who he’ll never know again. Once had already been bad enough. Seeing this twice just hurt him all the more.

From the corner of his eye he can see the figure of Brian Banner looming over, and Tony knows he doesn’t have much time. He needs to try and snap Bruce out of it before anything happens—Gamma Arc might have backups now, but he can’t just leave Bruce like this as well. And considering his condition… if he goes into overdrive, he might just snatch control from Tony entirely, and then things would really start going down the drain.

Tony quickly takes action. He goes and kneels before Bruce, talking to him, trying to get his attention in any way that he can. “Bruce. Bruce, please, listen to me. You need to snap out of this. This is Loki doing his thing again. I know you can tell that this isn’t real. This is just your memories again. I know you’re better than that. Bruce, please. Don’t lose to your memories once more.”

It’s hard to tell if Bruce did hear him or not since he’s still sobbing, but Tony has to press on, because there’s no other choice now at this time. If he can’t get Bruce out of this, then it’s all on him.

“C’mon, Bruce,” he tries again, wishing he could reach out to him, or hold him, or _something_. It’s so frustrating when all he can do is just see and do nothing else. In here, in Bruce’s worst memories that haunt him every night, all that Tony can ever be is the viewer and the audience, never a helper. For all the things he has done and has accomplished he still remains helpless to the one thing Tony wishes he can help out with these days, ever since the incident. What use is he, then, if he can’t even protect Bruce from the things that hurt him the most?

He hovers over Bruce’s small, tiny and frail body, uncertain and unsure, wondering if he should reach out and try somehow to help. There’s never been anything like this, but then again neither he nor Bruce could actually be termed as ‘normal’. Both of them had gone through so much to get to where they are now and he’ll be damned if Tony is going to lose Bruce like this again. He had barely even recovered from the last time this happened—this other time would just end up breaking him, and in turn break Tony as well.

Just the thought of that happening sends a chill down his spine as Tony thinks of how terrible it’ll all be—Bruce never talking to him again, never being by his side, never going to stay as the amazing and incredible man that Tony has come and know him to be. He can feel the darkness coming into Bruce, the ice cold sensation of despair and anguish that almost made him end it all once, the pain of it aching in the space inside his chest. Thinking about it now makes the pain all too real, almost physical in its nature, and Tony can’t help but reach up and place a hand over his arc reactor, closing his eyes as he forces himself to take a moment so that he can breathe properly again.

It takes a moment before he can catch his breath again, shaky inhales followed by equally shaky exhales, and Tony opens his eyes to gaze at Bruce once more, just staring at him and wondering if there is anything he can do at all. He doesn’t want to just stay here forever and simply watch the way Bruce breaks apart.

Just like with Loki, the words tumble out from him before Tony really thinks them, but unlike Loki this isn’t just about grand words and his own beliefs—this is all about Bruce and what he stands for to Tony. 

“This is all just a memory.” His voice is quiet now, almost inaudible, and despite all his courage Tony only ends up managing to place his other hand next to Bruce’s own, their fingers almost touching but not quite. “We all have bad memories, Bruce. At least I know I do. And I dwell on them a lot as well. But we all have to move on one way or another. I know it’s hard for you, but—” Tony stops for a moment, voice faltering as another bit of uncertainty comes to him. But he quickly pushes it aside before he can let it stop him; he has to do this for Bruce. Do it and show him what he needs.

He fixes his gaze on Bruce again and forces himself to continue. “I know it’s hard, but you’re—you’re not alone anymore. Even if the world turns against you, even if everybody else tries to get between us, even if you decide to run away… I’ll still be with you. I’ll always find a way to stick by you. You’re not alone, Bruce.” He swallows then, and gives himself half of a second to steady himself before he gets the last part out. “You’ll never be alone anymore. I’ll always be with you, Bruce, no matter what happens.”

Saying something as strong as that—it’s practically a commitment for him, a guy who has never done commitments. Even with Pepper he could never bring himself to say it, especially when the world went to hell with the kaijus showing up. But after spending all these months with Bruce, sharing their lives together… Tony knows now that he can truly never give this up. He can’t lose Bruce, can’t ever have him go away now that Tony has found him. This is more than Bruce being his co-pilot, more than a lab buddy who understands his science. This is Bruce being the person Tony never knew he needed until now, Bruce who made him feel complete. And sure, Bruce might know that through their drifts together but this—this is Tony confirming it for them. This is Tony finally making himself commit to something for the first time in his life. If it’s for Bruce, then Tony will do it. 

Tony falls silent after he says all of that, casting his sights away from Bruce as he looks down to the blood-stained tiles instead. He wonders why Loki hasn’t used this chance to destroy them yet. Maybe he doesn’t have to do it—maybe Bruce losing it will mean the end of them. It’s not that all hard to imagine it, really. Gamma Arc could handle much more than the standard neural energies, but there was no real chart or measure that could ever show exactly how much energy Bruce could give when he wanted to—if he went into overdrive and overloaded the connections, they would be as good as dead.

The silence pounds harder on him, almost overwhelming now. It’s quiet, so quiet and maybe that’s a sign to show that they’re already dead. Tony can’t really tell, as deep as he is right now in Bruce’s memories and his mind. He can’t last in here forever, of course, but time is relative in this place. A few seconds are enough in here to stretch into an eternity. Tony closes his eyes and lets out a slow breath, fists clenching up. All this time and still nothing from Bruce—this, perhaps, is really the end. Destined to die in battle against a crazy egomaniac and fade away as an invisible spectre in his co-pilot’s mind… in a way, Tony supposes that he deserves it. 

Still, if this is his fate then it’ll be a lot easier to just let himself fade away rather than keep on clinging to this terrible memory. He knows where he’s going already; there’s no need for him to fight this. It’s easy enough to just let himself go and simply disappear completely. With his eyes still closed its easy to let himself sink into the darkness that’s been creeping in here since the start. He forces his mind to stop in its instinctive struggle of holding on and pushes to a state of calmness. Once his mind manages to stay still enough he can sense the darkness coming, slowly washing over him as he feels himself turning cold and starting to fade, his consciousness slipping—

The cold stops without warning, giving way to warmth. Tony feels it surging within him suddenly, and if he concentrates hard enough he can feel where that warmth originates from. 

It’s from his hand.

“Tony.”

That voice. Tony would always know that voice. He opens his eyes before they go wide as they stare unblinking and focused right at the person who’s now kneeling before him, no longer in the body of a crying child.

“Bruce,” he breathes out the name, relief in his voice as Tony feels himself sag and nearly crumple to the ground. Bruce is okay. He’s fine. “Bruce, you’re—” He’s had every intention to say something else, but there’s still the warmth on his hand and Tony looks down to see just what it is, and again his eyes widen, this time in shock. Shock because right now Bruce has his hand clasped around Tony’s, something that should be impossible but yet it’s happening right now. He can feel the callouses of Bruce’s hands against him, the warmth of it as Bruce rubs a thumb at the side of his wrist in a gesture of reassurance and Tony finds himself at a momentary loss for words.

His mind is whirling, trying to process this, trying to understand what is going on but there’s no logical explanation for this that Tony can formulate right now. All his mind can really process is the fact that Bruce is alright, which is really the only thing that matters right now. Everything else is secondary—now and forever, Bruce would always be the most important thing to him. 

Somehow Bruce seems to understand that—or maybe he had sensed it—because there’s a wonderful smile on his face that goes all the way to his eyes and Tony has never really seen that before. It’s a beautiful smile. “We’re not going to give up,” he says simply, and Tony can believe him. He can believe Bruce and trust in that and know that it’ll be true.

He nods. “We won’t,” he promises Bruce, and the warmth increases, chasing the cold away. 

The smile on Bruce’s face widens ever so slightly, and Bruce closes his eyes, leaning forward so that their foreheads are pressed together. “Tony—” he starts only to pause after that but it isn’t for anything bad. His grip on Tony’s hand tightens, and the warmth continues to grow, filling him up with an emotion he can never really put into words, but that doesn’t matter. He knows that Bruce is more than aware of what it is. It’s more than enough for them.

Tony reaches over with his other hand and places it on Bruce’s knee. “You don’t have to say anything,” he murmurs softly.

Bruce opens his eyes at that and looks at Tony with the very same emotion he cannot name. But just as how Bruce can feel it Tony can feel it too, and it comes from the tone of his voice and the genuine softness in his expression. “Thank you.”

The darkness lifts. The cold disappears entirely. 

Tony knows that they’re going to make it.

Outside the both of them open their eyes, facing the light again now that they’ve managed to banish away the darkness that had almost grasped the both of them. A newfound determination surges through them, filling the two of them with strength that they’ve never felt before, strength that surpasses everything else they’ve ever known. There are no words in the language to describe what they feel, to properly showcase this thing that they’re experiencing right now. It’s an adrenaline rush unlike any other, and it ties them together and makes them into one. 

Right now Tony is Bruce and Bruce is Tony. They’re two people in one body, two minds in complete harmony, and if he can believe it—two souls in utter unison. The link between them is deeper than ever before, than anything else and Tony knows for a fact this connection has went all the way into the very core that make each of them. This is more than just an inexplicably strong neural connection—in the basest terms that Tony could put forth it could be called a bond. They were bonded, now and forever, the two of them leaving deep imprints of each other. There will never be a way for them to separate now.

Even Gamma Arc responds to this unbreakable connection as it hums to life once more, engines and lights flaring as the neural connection surges through its wirings. All of that hardly goes unnoticed by Loki, who had his back turned until right there, and the surprise is clear in his expression as he turns back to stare at the reactivated Jaeger with wide, open eyes. “ _Wha—?_ ”

Neither Bruce nor Tony give Loki the chance to react anything more than that. Both of them move at the same time, raising their right arm and this time no words are necessary. Gamma Arc responds to the unspoken command and does the same, lifting its arm as the parts shift around it, drawing back and resetting itself in new positions until the arm has transformed itself into the barrel of a familiar weapon.

“ _Repulsor cannon charging,_ ” JARVIS announces in its familiar chime.

Loki instantly puts two and two together once he sees the cannon make its appearance. “ _No!_ ” he snarls, drawing out his sceptre as the gem set on it begins to flare, ready to cast out its spells—

The air suddenly hisses before Loki can properly make his move, and in a split second after that Loki finds himself wrapped around thick wires that prevent him from moving. Jörmungandr lets out a low growl and starts to move, but more wires come out after that to wrap themselves around the kaiju’s legs and body, giant anchors plunging down into the waters after they are down to keep Jörmungandr weighed down and trapped in its position.

Tony blinks at the sight, knowing full well who would be the one who would be able to do that—well, two Jaegers, to be precise. “Rogers. Thor.”

Both Liberty Winter and Thunder Bridge rise up from their positions underwater in the near distance, moonlight reflecting off the Jaeger’s wet surfaces and making them just visible in the lighting. From where they are Tony can see that both Jaegers had suffered quite a fair amount of damage, but at least they were both alright. He also notes that they had both placed themselves strategically away from the radius of the blast from the repulsor cannon.

“ _Barton and Romanoff are secured for now,_ ” comes the voice of Rogers through a newly opened channel, and he nods at them through the feed. “ _Let’s finish this once and for all._ ”

Bruce is the one who answers for them here. “You got it, Captain.”

From his trappings Loki bares his teeth and snarls at them once more. “ _You’ll never beat the kaiju,_ ” he all but growls, voice still strong even in the face of his imminent doom.

“Maybe not,” Tony answers, eyes flashing green. “But we sure as hell can beat _you_.”

“ _Repulsor cannon charged._ ”

Bruce and Tony shout out the command at the same time. “ _FIRE!_ ”

The engines of Gamma Arc hum with deafening loudness as the cannon reaches its peak, and when it fires the sound comes out unlike that of a thunderous roar, loud and responding, almost that of a beast’s. The repulsor cannon fires at the command, letting out a howling beam of energy that burns through the air itself as it streams forward right to the target JARVIS has helpfully locked onto just moments ago.

Loki attempts to struggle himself away from the attack, but his efforts come to naught. The attack makes its mark without incident, blasting through Loki as well as his kaiju. They can hear the scream that comes from Loki as the attack hits, his cry even louder than that of Jörmungandr as the kaiju roars and trashes in its bonds, its own cries of agony echoing through the battleground.

The howl of the repulsor cannon continues on for at least a minute or two more before it finally dies out and fades away, the last echoes of its attack resounding through the battlefield. Both Jörmungandr and Loki remain in surprisingly in one piece even after all of that, but their skin is blackened and scorched and they remain deathly still, almost like a gargoyle that overlooks the entire area. But after a moment the illusion breaks, and Jörmungandr starts to sway, letting out a low growl as its body leaning left and then right before gravity acts on its weight and the kaiju falls to the ground. The impact causes the water to surge forward in waves, but they do nothing to affect any of the Jagers as they stand still, watching the end of Loki and whatever it is that he had up his sleeve.

Both Liberty Winter and Thunder Bridge take a moment more before they lose their now useless wires and drop them, damaged joints creaking loudly as they move to stand up properly and slowly make their way to where Gamma Arc is. Both Bruce and Tony slowly lower their own arm while they still stare at Loki, their chests heaving as if they had just both ran a marathon. 

The repulsor cannon retracts, shifting back to a proper arm and hand as the screens updates with new information. “ _Target destroyed. Mission objectives have been fulfilled._ ”

Bruce swallows for a moment before he manages to get the words out. “Clint? Agent Romanoff?”

Another screen pops up, this time with both Barton and Romanoff on the feed. “ _You should really call me Natasha, considering everything,_ ” Romanoff chides softly, but there’s a small smile on her face. “ _But yes, we’re fine. Thank you for asking._ ”

Barton has a wry smile of his own as he chimes in. “ _Don’t worry about us, Bruce. We can take care of ourselves from here._ ”

The relief that Bruce feels is evident even without the link to show it. “It’s good to know that you’re both alright. We’ll see you later.”

The two pilots of Black Hawk flash one more smile of gratitude before they close the feed, and Bruce all but sags in his spot once the transmission terminates. Tony starts to try and help him, but Bruce raises a hand and shakes his head. “I’m fine,” he half mumbles out, lowering his hand after that. “I just… I just need a moment.”

“ _You can have all the moments you need,_ ” Rogers’s voice once more, as he appears on their previous feed, this time with a smile on his face as he looks between both Bruce as well as Tony. “ _After all, today we managed a victory. For once, we won—and its thanks to the both of you._ ”

 _We won._ Those words ring strongly in Tony as he turns his gaze from Rogers to Bruce, glancing at him for a moment before he repeats the words. “We won.”

Bruce, to his amazement and joy, smiles back, and just like before he can see it go all the way to his eyes, watching the way his face instantly brightens up in happiness. 

“We did,” he says in agreement, and this time Tony can hear the quiet joy in Bruce’s voice. “We won.”

* * *

Celebrations wasn’t something that happened immediately—all of the pilots were placed in the infirmary and given mandatory check-ups to ensure that they were all alright after what had happened. While the other pilots were cleared to head back into action pretty quickly, both Bruce and Tony were made to stay for at least a week more to recover from the incredible amount of mental energy they were forced to expand in the fight.

Tony would have complained if it wasn’t for a fact that the whole thing had left him drained and exhausted and if he had to be honest, he needed the rest. Now that it was over it felt like it had taken forever and the mental exhaustion had him mostly sleeping off the extra week. Bruce was notably worse, but at least he had experience with it and took it with better grace—although he spent a good three days doing nothing else but sleep.

Still, it wasn’t too bad, since Tony could spend his time awake watching Bruce curled up right beside him. It still amazed him how somebody this remarkably amazing could be incredibly fragile at the same time, and the way his guards all dropped once he was sleeping. In sleep Bruce was beautiful, his face relaxed and unguarded, so open for Tony to brush lips across his forehead and cheeks whenever he wanted to. 

Neither of them had really discussed about the promise they made back in battle, but to be honest Tony didn’t really mind at all—with Bruce it was nothing about the sex or physical pleasure. It was simply about the company and about never letting Bruce be alone anymore. Besides, both of them were too tired and exhausted to do much anyway. He could wait until the right time came, if it would come at all. But if it was for Bruce Tony found himself not really caring if he ended up becoming celibate. It was a strange thing, to regard somebody as this important to him that Tony would go to this extent, but perhaps it was a sign—a sign that he wouldn’t miss for the world. 

It was only after about three weeks down the road—when both Tony and Bruce had finally recovered enough strength to do something more than simply sleep and eat—did they finally hold a celebration to commemorate their victory. It had been a long time for any of them since they had managed something big enough to warrant a party like this, but now that the chance had come all of them milked it for all that it was worth. 

The whole party was nothing but full of cheers and shouts and fun. Thor attempted to drink everybody under the table, only to be beaten by Rogers of all people—Tony certainly hadn’t expected Rogers to hold his drink that well, and neither did he expect the reason for his strong tolerance was because of his wife Peggy Carter. Barton and Barnes went around toasting the crew and everyone else around the party; everyone that is except for Romanoff who simply sent them a glare before the two of them scurried off to bother others instead.

Even the higher ups were around, surprisingly. He had spotted Fury hovering around with Coulson and his five man special ops team; three of them seemed to be having a blast while another two didn’t seem to loosen up as well as their team mates. Well, people of the same types tended to stick together, Tony supposed. 

Hill, however, had amazingly let her hair down for the night, attracting a lot of attention from most of the other guys. Even Tony had to admit she was quite the looker when not in her uniform—and maybe in the past he would have tried his luck with her (castration be damned) but now there’s Bruce who holds his attention more than anything or anyone else. He’s sitting alone at the edge of one of the canteen tables and of course it would be rude if Tony didn’t join him and see if he is alright.

“You do realize that this is supposed to be a happy event,” Tony mutters with soft amusement as he slips himself into the seat next to Bruce, giving him a small smile. “Stop dooming and glooming it up with that look on your face. Nobody’s going to approve of it.”

Bruce perks up the moment Tony settles beside him, flashing him a tiny smile in response to the remark. “Sorry,” he says quietly. “I didn’t mean to ruin the mood.”

Tony simply snorts and rolls his eyes. “Well, it’s not like anybody has noticed it besides me.” He waves off the apology with an absent hand. “Don’t worry about it.” Even with that said though, Tony can’t help but wonder just what is it that caused Bruce to have that look on his face, especially when it doesn’t change one bit still despite his words and Bruce is already back inside his own head.

Picking a cup of juice from nearby, Tony gets Bruce’s attention with a few elbow nudges to his side. When Bruce looks at him again Tony passes the cup over, holding it expectantly. “Have a drink, at least.” 

There’s a moment in where Bruce blinks at the cup, but he quickly recovers and accepts the offered drink. “Thanks,” he says quietly once more, and Tony watches as Bruce simply looks away and loses himself in his own thoughts yet again, only this time while holding a plastic cup of juice. And—yeah, that was really not what Tony had been hoping for in Bruce. At least he could do something else besides brooding and thinking all the time. Then again, it wouldn’t be Bruce if he didn’t do those things in the first place.

As much as Tony gives Bruce his needed space and silence, this time he can’t really let him have it for the entire night—especially when they’re part of the main reason why this party is going in the first place. “Are you going to tell me what’s on your mind?” he asks while giving Bruce another light nudge once more. The brief contact lets him sense a few whispers of what’s going in Bruce’s mind right now, but nothing more than that. This, too, is something that they haven’t really talked about too much yet—and Tony isn’t sure if they’re ever going to talk about it. Maybe they don’t need to at all. 

There are quite a number of things hanging between them now, Tony realizes. That’s… probably a bad thing. He can’t know for certain if Bruce shares the same sentiment or not, but at the very least Bruce is still next to him. Surely that counts for something.

Bruce doesn’t answer for a good while, but eventually he does more than just wallow in his thoughts. He shifts in his seat, the pondering expression still visible on his face but it’s somewhat changed now. Less on brooding and more of… contemplating, if Tony had to put words to it; but then he’s never really been much of the sitting around and thinking type from the start.

“Do you think the fight will ever end?” Bruce finally speaks, and Tony can tell that it’s a question Bruce has had on his mind for a good while already. To be fair, it’s something Tony has thought about too, but he’s never really lets himself dwell on it. There’s no point to it, at least for him. But if Bruce is asking… well, Tony knows that he should at least give Bruce an answer that isn’t ‘I don’t know’ or something equally dismissive. Bruce isn’t the media or any of the others after all. He’s Bruce.

So Tony takes a slow breath in and then out, silent for a few beats before he finally speaks. “No, of course not,” he says, giving Bruce a momentary glance before he shifts it over to the rest of the party, studying them and looking at them, watching them as they celebrated and enjoyed this one night of fun. “Eventually this war will end, be it because we lost or because we won. No battle is fought forever. One way or another, there will be an end to the fight. The only thing we won’t know until then is the outcome.”

With such an answer, of course Tony can guess what the next question will be, and he’s already preparing himself even as Bruce asks him said question. “Then do you think we’re going to win?” _Or will we lose?_ He can hear that unspoken question, the words that Bruce doesn’t dare to say—because he doesn’t want to think about it. And to be frank, neither does Tony. Tony Stark doesn’t deal with ‘what ifs’ if he can help it.

He reaches over and grasps Bruce’s hand, linking their fingers together as he looks at Bruce and Bruce looks at him, their eyes meeting each other’s’, gazes locked as he squeezes their hands together in what he hopes is a show of reassurance, of promise. 

“I don’t know,” he admits this time, because there’s still so much left even after Loki’s defeat. The kaiju might have taken a step back after this but the fight is far from over. There’s still going to be a lot of battles, a lot of fighting, a lot of times they both were going to have to put their lives on the line. It might be over tomorrow, or it might be over in decades but there is one thing that Tony knows now, and that’s what he tells Bruce. “And I can’t say in certainty that we’re going to make it, but there’s one thing I do know with confidence.”

Bruce blinks once, twice, and then stares at Tony once more, his brown eyes dark and holding something more than just dread or sorrow or anger. “What is it?” he asks.

“I have people I want to protect,” Tony replies, smiling softly. “And I have promises I intend to keep.” 

A wry smile crosses Bruce’s face then. “As it stands, there is still one promise you haven’t kept to.”

Tony can’t help but let out a chuckle, wondering for a moment how he managed to get somebody like Bruce once again. Honestly, he doesn’t really deserve it—but hell if he’ll let himself screw this chance up. He’s well aware that he screws up on a lot of things—Pepper alone is enough evidence, really—but right now, with this? He doesn’t want to lose it. Can’t let himself lose it, ever.

“Well,” he starts, voice low, with the smile still on his face and mirth evident in his eyes. “I can always get started on it anytime.” He can feel his chest lurching, heart hammering loudly enough to echo between his ear drums—despite his confidence Tony finds himself being as nervous as hell, almost as if he’s a teenager all over again. It’s quite disconcerting but with Bruce, it still feels alright, somehow.

Bruce’s smile turns into something more genuine then, with a hint of mischief at the edges that does interest Tony quite a bit before he can try to ask or do anything else Fury is pointedly clearing his throat loud enough for the party to fall silent. 

“In this fight against the kaiju we have suffered more defeats than we have gained victories,” he begins, sweeping across the crowd with his one eye. “But this last victory we have gained is one that will enable us to take a step forward. The fight is far from over, but right now we have gained something we almost thought we had lost—hope.” 

This time he personally eyes each of the Jaeger pilots, starting from Rogers and Barnes and ending with Tony and Bruce, all while continuing to speak. “I cannot tell you if this will make things easier or harder for us in the long run. But what I can say is that right now, we have all proven ourselves to the rest of the world, and our enemies. They now know that no matter what they throw at us, we’ll be there to stop them and protect this world. That is not just a statement—that is a promise we’re throwing back at them. A promise that all of us will keep until the very end.”

Everyone in the party gives out cheers and whoops and shouts of ‘yeah!’ after the last few words, clearly showing their own agreement to Fury’s little speech. Tony had to hand it to Fury; the guy did know how to get everyone going when he actually went to put his mind to it. Then again, he supposes a master spy wouldn’t be called a master spy if he didn’t know a few physiological tactics to get everyone’s morale high up once more.

Still, that an issue that Tony barely wants to concern himself with for tonight. Not when there is something far more important for him to attend in the very near future. Right now, in fact, since everyone should be distracted enough by the party for them to make an early escape without notice.

The two of them slip out a few minutes after Fury’s speech, when the partying kicks up a notch and everyone is far too busy with celebrating to really notice the absence of two people. Tony is quite confident that nobody would catch them, but the way their footsteps echo in the hallways still make him somewhat cautious and tense—just about everyone should be in the party but it’s hard to know if anybody else had also decided to do the same thing they just did as well.

It’s not hard to muse how this is very much like being two teenagers skipping out on prom to get to something far more interesting, but then neither of them really had the standard teenager experience from the start and despite everything, they are both above forty. As much as Tony likes to believe he’s young at heart, its times like these when he can feel his age coming to him. It’s taken him so long to finally get to this point, even with Bruce in his life, and Tony knows this is something he has to treasure for the rest of his life. This is more than just a one night thing, more than just a passing fancy, and Tony needs to show Bruce that.

And that’s what he does, as soon as they’re in Tony’s room and the door is closed and locked behind them. Tony frames Bruce’s face for a moment before he leans in and kisses him, the gesture chaste for all of two moments before Tony quickly moves to deepen it. Bruce, to no surprise, is totally out of practice, and rather than the smooth glide of tongues there’s the clacking of teeth hitting each other and noses bumping in uncomfortable positions.

Tony can feel Bruce panicking a little, being all embarrassed by his lack of experience but really it’s honestly more endearing than anything else. Before Bruce can do anything silly like draw back Tony simply shifts a hand to cup the back of Bruce’s head so that he can shift him in just the right angle for Tony to claim his mouth properly.

Kissing Bruce is everything as well as nothing like what he expected it to be. It’s amazing and fantastic and next time Tony resolves to just spend one of their off days doing nothing but kissing Bruce because he’ll never have enough of it otherwise. Actually, even if that did happen he is pretty certain that he will still never get enough. With Bruce it’ll never be enough. The need only burns stronger with every passing moment, surging through his veins like wildfire.

He moves them over to the bed as they kiss, nearly tripping and stumbling as they cross the room but never breaking apart throughout. They only stop when they tumble down onto the mattress, Bruce below while Tony is on top, and from his vantage point he can see the flush that has crept onto Bruce’s cheeks. There’s no other word that Tony can use to describe that sight except ‘adorable’. Everything about Bruce is attractive and utterly adorable, even if Bruce doesn’t seem to see it. But that’s alright. Tony will make him see it tonight.

“Last chance to turn away, Dr. Banner,” he murmurs, voice low as he stares at Bruce, knowing that his eyes are just as dark as Bruce’s own, if not more. But even with how much he wants this Tony doesn’t want to force Bruce into anything he isn’t ready for. He knows that Bruce must have needed a lot of courage to be here now, and Tony wants to respect that. If Bruce wants to back out—which Tony does not hope will not be the case, but in the event that it does happen—he can deal with it. 

All the same, even with that thought, Tony can’t deny the surge of happiness he feels when he watches the corners of Bruce’s mouth tilt up into a smile. “You don’t need to worry about me,” he returns, warm amusement audible in his words. “Do your worst, Mr. Stark.”

Tony lets out a small chuckle at that response. “My worst, huh?” he echoes, lowering himself closer to Bruce, bodies and lips nearly touching each other. “Are you sure about that, Banner? I’m pretty sure I can make you beg within minutes if I really did my worst.” He moves a hand to slowly trace a finger down Bruce’s still clothed chest from his collarbone, watching the way Bruce’s eyes flutter and cataloguing it for future reference. 

Bruce wets his lips once Tony pulls his hand away, a gesture that Tony wouldn’t mind seeing a lot more times in the future as well. “I’m not above begging,” is all that Bruce says, and Tony can easily picture now how he wants Bruce in the next few minutes. That mental image is enough to send blood rushing down to his cock and Tony definitely needs their clothes gone right now. 

Not even bothering to put his need into words, Tony just shows it in the best way he knows how to—through his actions, just like with almost everything else. He closes the distance between them and kisses Bruce once again, sucking on his tongue and drawing out a whole string of unfiltered noises from Bruce as Tony keeps him occupied with his mouth. He runs a hand down Bruce’s front, teasing for a moment around the fly of Bruce’s pants (and soaking in the most adorable needy sound Tony has ever heard in his entire life) before he shifts his hand back up and starts to pop open the buttons of Bruce’s shirt. 

Tony makes sure that his movements are slow and methodical, letting Bruce feel every sensation as he works on the buttons one by one. Bruce is close to squirming by the time Tony manages to get the last button done, but even then he’s not done yet. He keeps on kissing Bruce, still ensuring that he’s fairly distracted as Tony slowly runs a hand back up Bruce’s now exposed stomach to his equally exposed chest, making sure that Bruce felt the glide and heat of skin on skin, something he knows that Bruce has missed for the longest time. The result is instantaneous; Bruce all but whines into Tony’s mouth, his body arching up into the touch, and Tony doesn’t need to look down to know that Bruce is just about as hard as he is already.

He makes himself pull away from the kiss after a few moments more, smiling at the quiet, disappointed sound that Bruce lets out as they part. Really, he could just keep on kissing and teasing Bruce all day just to see what sort of reactions he would make. Tony doesn’t think he could ever tire of watching Bruce coming apart. 

Speaking of Bruce, he’s staring at Tony again, the desire on his face clearer than ever. “You said you were going to make me beg,” he says, voice now hoarse and utterly wrecked—and that by itself is totally a turn on, especially when he also realized that Bruce sounded like that because of _him_.

“I am,” he quickly assures Bruce as he toys with the top of Bruce’s pants and watches the way Bruce’s eyes flutter again as he gasps softly. “But I also want to take my time with you. Now that you’re here I want to put my mouth on every inch of you, see how to react to my tongue on each of your nerves. I want to see how quickly you’ll ask for me to put my mouth onto your cock and watch you as you lose it and come for me.”

He easily sees the way those words have their effect on Bruce as he watches Bruce’s pupils dilate and hears a thin, needy sound escaping from the back of his throat. Bruce must be the most responsive person in bed ever, Tony decides—not that it’s a bad thing. It’s an unbelievable turn on, to see and hear the way Bruce lost himself to his pleasure with every step of the way. Tony needs to encourage that more.

Tony shifts his hand down, ghosting fingers along Bruce’s inner thigh now, slowly rubbing circles over the fabric of his pants as he continues to speak, every one of his words fully laced with his intent and desire. “Or maybe I should just use my hand instead to get you off while I use my mouth for better things like kissing you. I’m pretty sure that I can take you apart with just a kiss—I know you got hard right after the first one earlier. Can you imagine it, Bruce? My hand wrapped around you, my mouth on yours while I kiss you?” 

“Y-Yes,” Bruce mumbles out, more breath than word, and Tony can see the way Bruce’s cock is straining through his pants now after those few sentences of dirty talk. Not that he wasn’t aware of Bruce’s kinks—especially considering their multiple drifts together—but it’s still a wonder in the way Bruce responds to his words, showing just how much Bruce needs it and craves for it. Just watching Bruce’s reactions is making Tony heady by the amazing sight before him.

Tony gives himself just a few more moments to enjoy it before he moves on to what he really wants to do for tonight. To be fair there are a lot of things he wants to do, but this is their first time, and he wants to make it good for Bruce. All of his other ideas can come later. For now, making sure that Bruce likes it is the most important thing. 

Straightening himself, Tony leans over Bruce once again so that he can reach and take off Bruce’s unbuttoned shirt. Bruce helps him with that by shifting his own body, and once the shirt is off his back Tony flings it carelessly to the floor. He wastes no time after that and begins to lavish attention onto Bruce, lowering himself down and planting a trail of kisses that starts from Bruce’s neck and all the way down to the hem of his pants. 

Bruce is hardly silent while Tony does that—he reacts beautifully under Tony’s attention, arching up into his mouth as a string of groans and moans come out from him entirely unbidden. Tony smiles against his stomach when he reaches there, proud of what he’s able to do for Bruce and it is a privilege to be able to see him like this, a part of Bruce where nobody else has ever been able to see. The memories he has in his mind are incomparable to what lies before him right now.

He hears Bruce giving out a needy little whine, hips twitching to showcase what he needs now and Tony can fully agree that he should get the show on the road. With his tongue he laps around Bruce’s stomach, tracing nonsensical patterns there to keep Bruce distracted while he expertly undoes the fly of Bruce’s pants. Bruce lets out a sigh once his pants are eased down and also thrown to the ground, but Tony quickly makes him squirm and arch up once more as he shifts again and starts to mouth Bruce’s cock over the fabric of his underwear.

“Tony—” Bruce cuts himself off with a cry of pleasure, exactly the way Tony wanted things to be. He teases Bruce with the heat of his mouth, pressing little kisses along the outline of his cock and down to his balls, where he then goes to start flicking his tongue in teasing little movements against the cloth. Bruce is trembling underneath him in no time at all, every one of his nerves singing in pleasure and it’s so good Tony almost wants to make Bruce come right there and then. But not tonight. Tonight is for something else far better.

Reluctantly pulling himself off Bruce, Tony quickly calms him down with another breath-taking claim on Bruce’s mouth that leaves Bruce dazed for long enough so that Tony can strip himself naked in record time. His clothes swiftly join Bruce’s clothes down onto the floor and once he’s done Tony crawls back up into bed, slotting himself between Bruce’s legs and starts to kiss down the length of his body once more, lavishing every part of Bruce with kisses so to make sure that Bruce knows nothing else except for pleasure. 

He takes his time here, making sure that he has his mouth against every inch of skin that’s available to him, keeping every one of Bruce’s reactions to mind. If there is a spot where Bruce happens to be particularly responsive to Tony would spend a minute or two there, testing and experimenting to see the variety of reactions he would get from there before he moves on. By the time Tony is at the edge of Bruce’s underwear Bruce is pleading for him mindlessly, and when Tony lifts himself up to see Bruce laid out beneath him he has never looked better.

Bruce whines once more when Tony pulls himself away, his whole body pleading now and Tony knows there’s not much space for him to tease now when Bruce can come at almost any moment. Settling onto his knees, Tony hooks his fingers into the edge of Bruce’s underwear and slowly pulls them down, finally exposing the rest of him to Tony’s hungry gaze, and it’s not unlike unwrapping a present—except this happens to be the best present of all. As Tony eases Bruce’s underwear out of the way Bruce shifts to help, arching up his hips so that Tony can get them off him with minimal fuss and it joins the rest of their clothes on the floor. Now that they’re both naked the fun can really begin, and Tony intends to give Bruce the best time of his life right here and now. 

Tony places his hands on Bruce’s thighs and slowly spreads his legs apart, wide enough for Tony to do what he wants but before he does do it he rubs the inside of Bruce’s thighs, warming them up and making him comfortable as Tony looks at him and speaks. “We’ll go slow,” he promises, more than aware of Bruce’s lack of experience in this area and Tony doesn’t want to rush things here— _especially_ here. “And I’ll make sure it’s good for you—but if you don’t want it, just tell me and I’ll stop, alright?”

There’s a momentary pause as Bruce looks up at Tony and seems to consider his words rather intently, but he soon nods and gives him a small smile. “I trust you,” he says, and hearing that beats everything else Tony has ever wanted. To have Bruce’s trust in this manner is perhaps the most precious gift Tony knows he will ever have, and it means a lot to both him as well as Bruce. This is something he will treasure dearly for the rest of his life.

Tony flashes Bruce a small smile and leans down, giving Bruce a few more kisses across his abdomen before he murmurs against him, “Nightstand. Top drawer.”

Bruce complies instantly, a hand opening the top drawer as requested. There’s a moment of rummaging before he manages to find where the lube is and passes it over to Tony, who takes with another smile before he leans over and kisses Bruce on his mouth again. He pulls back after a moment to slick his fingers up with as much lube as he can because he wants this to be as good as it can for Bruce. He wants Bruce to feel nothing else but pleasure and ease away the pain as much as possible. He deserves it, after everything that’s happened.

The first touch of his fingertip against him has Bruce gasping softly, more surprise than pleasure, but considering his lack of experience it isn’t something Tony takes to heart. He traces tiny little circles at the edge, slow and unhurried all while showering Bruce with more kisses, allowing him to get used to the sensation first before Tony goes further. 

It’s easy enough to tell when Bruce is ready for more, at least—his breaths turn loud as Bruce starts to rock his hips slightly, cock twitching from the lack of more stimulation. Tony huffs fondly as he slips one finger into Bruce, and Bruce is needy enough to take the first finger with little incident, his breath hitching once Tony manages to slide his finger all the way in. Tony works him open, making sure his fingers remain slick as he stretches him wider, keeping Bruce distracted with his mouth and tongue and lips. 

Once he’s sure that Bruce is fine with one finger Tony slips in another one, this time pumping them in and out so that Bruce can get used to the sensation. He hears Bruce getting louder with each passing moment while he does that, hips twitching once more and Tony can’t help but grin as he uses his other hand to hold Bruce’s hip to keep him steady before he hooks his fingers inside of Bruce to rub against his prostate. 

Bruce groans out his name when Tony does that, voice utterly wanton and needy, and it sounds so good that Tony can feel himself twitching in need. There’s only so much he can take himself, and Tony knows he has to hurry if he wants to feel Bruce losing it around him. He presses a third finger in, this time drawing out a thin wine from Bruce as he feels the slight edge of discomfort. Tony does his best to quell it by kissing him again, sucking hard on Bruce’s tongue and making him forget about the pain, loosening Bruce up enough to take in all of Tony.

By the time Tony does pull back Bruce is already at the edge of orgasm, his entire body shaking with need and want. Though he doesn’t want to leave Bruce hanging Tony can’t help but take a moment to appreciate just how open Bruce is for him now; his eyes dark with desire, cheeks flushed with arousal and his cock hard and swollen against his stomach. He was the very picture of sin right now, every one of Tony’s desires right here in this sight before him, and Bruce wouldn’t even know it.

And speaking of desire, Tony has no greater one right now than to feel what it’s like to have Bruce all around him and he has every intention to know that sensation tonight, especially when Bruce is looking at him with half-lidded eyes and making the best kind of needy little noises for him. Tony wets his own hand with lube again before he bends down and kisses Bruce once more while he slicks himself up with his hand, getting himself ready before he nudges himself against Bruce and slowly eases into him nice and steady. 

Bruce lets out a slow moan as Tony goes inside of him, and Tony returns that moan with one of his own as he feels the perfect heat of Bruce around him. Bruce is a furnace, tight and hot and so, so _good_ and Tony can’t help but show his pleasure again with another moan soon after his first one. For all of his experience Tony has to take a moment to steady himself once he’s fully inside of Bruce, getting himself used to the sensation first before he even thinks of about moving. Bruce just feels far too good inside of him, and if he didn’t ready himself Tony is certain he’ll come far too soon for either of them to enjoy. He wants this to last for as long as possible.

He uses his mouth to occupy Bruce again while staying still inside of him, lavishing him with more kisses and quiet little murmurs of affection and praise. Tony watches as Bruce soaks them up almost greedily, more instinct than actual awareness, wholly aware of just how much Bruce has been deprived of for so much of his life. Be it through deliberate means or not, there is just so much that Bruce has put himself away from especially in these last few years, but now that he’s opened himself up to Tony he intends to return all of that Bruce has missed. He wants to fill Bruce up with everything he needs and spoil him in the best way. He deserves that, after everything. It’s an entirely selfish notion but Tony wants to be the only one who can indulge Bruce in all the ways he should be pampered by.

Just like earlier when Tony is preparing Bruce he takes his time again, giving the both of them as much time as they need to properly get used to the sensation—because its more than just what they feel. With the both of them this deeply connected to each other now the echoes they feel from one another is much more tangible, almost real, and Tony can feel Bruce’s pleasure almost as wholly as Bruce can feel his own. It’s never been this intense before but then again neither have they ever done this either. It’s a lot to take in, certainly, but at the same time it feels nothing short of amazing. Tony personally thinks that Bruce has just single-handedly ruined every other sexual experience Tony had in his life up until now. There’s no way he’s going to go to anyone else now after just feeling _this_ —and they haven’t even gotten to the good part yet. And since he’s gone to that train of thought, Tony feels his body immediately jumping to that train of thought, ready and eager to make headway into absolute nirvana.

As much as he wants that himself, Tony wants to makes sure first that Bruce is ready too, and so he trails his lips up to Bruce’s jaw, pressing a wet kiss there and then moves upwards to his ear. He takes a moment to tug at the lobe with his teeth (to another beautiful gasp from Bruce) before whispering hotly against the shell of said ear. “Ready for more?”

The heat that shoots through him is impossible to ignore when Bruce lets out a breathy whimper, and Tony smiles at the way Bruce’s hips shift ever so slightly, knowing that it’s one of the signs that Bruce is indeed ready for much more. But it is still better to get the answer directly from the horse’s mouth, as it were, so he waits patiently until Bruce looks at Tony with an adorably flushed face and nods eagerly, signalling his answer. “Yes, please,” he manages out, voice utterly breathless.

With that response Tony starts to move his hips, slowly thrusting in and out of Bruce, groaning at the sensation of how Bruce responds to his movements, clenching up and squeezing him so tightly he would have come if he didn’t have better control of himself. Right below him however Bruce is another story entirely—rather than being the one in control now Bruce is the one who is quickly spiralling _out_ of control, as he arches up and attempts to move his hips in time to Tony’s thrusts. His mouth falls slack and open as Bruce voices out his pleasure without any encouragement whatsoever, heated words coming out from him completely unbidden.

“God, yes, Tony. Yes. So good. You feel so good. Always wondered what it would be like but I never knew it could be this good. You’re so deep inside me, I can’t—Tony. Tony, please. Tony, I can’t—don’t stop, please.” The last word comes out as a low moan as Tony smoothly slides himself back in after having pulled out for a moment, and Tony watches as Bruce’s eyes get so blown out there’s nothing more than a thin ring of brown to indicate where his pupils are.

He smiles once more at that sight, feeling heady, and when he answers Bruce even Tony is amazed to hear just how rough and wrecked his own voice is, as if watching Bruce is all that Tony needs to become like this. “Never,” he rasps out, continuing to move in and out of Bruce, enjoying the way Bruce slowly loses himself to pleasure and sensation. Seeing Bruce like this is an aphrodisiac to Tony, and he feels himself getting drunk on the sight, intoxicated by each and every one of Bruce’s cries of pleasure as Tony brings him ever closer to completion. He can do this forever, he thinks, just keep them trapped in this one moment where time ceases all meaning and all they can feel and take in is the pleasure that runs between them both, looping eternally until neither of them are able to tell where one ends and the other begins.

And even when that happens Tony still keeps on pushing forward, driving the both of them on without pause because there’s no way he can stop right now, not when it feels this good and amazing. He wants to relish it but every part of him is screaming for _more_ and Tony can’t disobey a need like that. Next time, though, he promises to himself. Next time, he’ll take it slow, slow enough for the both of them to enjoy this thoroughly. But for now the need drives him first.

It’s no surprise at all when Bruce is the one who teeters at the edge first, his entire body shaking with the need for release as he begs like never before while riding on the knife edge of orgasm. “I can’t, Tony, please. Please please _please_ let me, I just can’t—” Bruce continues to babble out a string of pleas and promises, all the things Tony has ever wanted to hear from Bruce in his dreams now played out in real life. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t affected, and Tony can feel himself getting that much closer to losing it as well, but he wants to see Bruce come first before Tony can properly let himself go. He needs to.

Tony reaches down and wraps a warm hand around Bruce’s now steadily leaking cock, stroking him in time to their movements. “Don’t fight it, Bruce,” he murmurs, soft and encouraging, doing his best to sound as welcoming as possible. “Just let go. I’ve got you.”

It seems like somehow those are the words that Bruce needs to hear, because in the next moment his face falls entirely into pleasure as he arches up sharply and without warning. A dying whine comes from the back of his throat as he feels Bruce shake apart while he comes hot and hard and wet between them, spilling all over Tony’s hand. 

Everything in that moment is perfect, if Tony has anything to say about it, and as much as he wants to keep on watching it and save it in his memory Tony can’t hold on him, especially not after such a display from Bruce where he can feel every nuance and shudder of his body, the perfect heat and tightness that Tony could never compare up to anybody else he had slept with. He loses the fight against his own overwhelming pleasure, especially when combined with Bruce’s own, and Tony just barely manages to crush his mouth against Bruce’s before he feels himself coming deep inside Bruce, far too deep but also far too good. 

As he comes Tony kisses Bruce like he’s never kissed him before, so deeply and intently with no other intention but to pour and lose all of himself into that one kiss. He shows Bruce the entirety of his feelings and intent with that gesture, of how much he wants Bruce to be with him and for them to be with each other for the rest of their lives. In that kiss he shares with Bruce the rest of his life and everything that is related to it—all of his passions and energies are thrown inside, and Tony gives it all to Bruce without restraint.

It feels like an eternity before he’s finally done and properly spent, and once Tony has emptied himself inside of Bruce he breaks the kiss and collapses on top of him. Every nerve in his body is still singing as he lies on Bruce, trying to catch his breath as he keeps up their skin to skin ratio. While they’re still connected to each other Tony can still feel the tiny echoes of pleasure between them, rippling constantly and sending litter shivers of pleasure that roll down their spines. 

“Never going to have sex with anybody else ever again,” Tony eventually manages to say after a moment, once his body is done floating in a cloud of bliss and has settled back to earth. Well, mostly. There’s still a good part of him that’s still floating, but at least he has enough mental faculties to formulate questions and sentences.

Bruce’s response is a soft huff of amusement. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” 

He feels more than hears Bruce’s words through the rumble in his chest that Tony is resting his head on now, and after that answer Tony lets out a snort. “You should. I rarely compliment people on anything. Be glad that you just single-handedly ruined sex with anybody else for me. I’m just going to come to you for sex for the rest of my life now.” It’s probably not the most appropriate thing for him to say, but Tony has never been the best at speaking the appropriate things and if Bruce had been bothered by that he would have already left Tony all the way back from the start. 

The fact that Bruce had not and can actually let out a small laugh at in response speaks volumes about many things. Things that Tony still doesn’t quite dare to voice out just yet but he knows that Bruce is aware of. And for now, that will be enough, until the day Tony can actually find his courage to say it properly.

“I’m pretty sure I’m not that amazing,” Bruce’s voice breaks through his train of thought and Tony blinks, to focus himself back again and also because he has to make sure that he’s hearing Bruce right. Was he actually meaning that, after everything they had been through? _And_ especially after what they just did together?

Tony can’t help but snort in utter disbelief, the sound drawing out another blink from Bruce but Tony is far too busy trying to prove his point instead. “Bruce, trust me when I say that you are the most amazing and incredible person I’ve ever met. There’s nobody else in the world who can ever replace you at all—nor would I even attempt to think about finding somebody like you. You’re too unique to ever be found again. I’m never letting you go no matter what you do or try.”

For a moment Tony sees Bruce’s eyes widening in what seems like surprise, as if even after everything Bruce hadn’t expected to hear that, which is frankly ridiculous considering how much they know of each other already. Bruce should know that the time of one night stands had long been over for Tony—for there had been Pepper, and after that ended with his decision to go pro bono Tony never really had sex on his mind again until Bruce himself came into the picture. Unlike last time before the world went crazy and he got an electromagnet welded to his chest Tony doesn’t just let anybody into his bed now. After the incident there had been Pepper… and now Bruce.

And even with Bruce things were far more different then they had been with Pepper. It was impossible to compare them too, because that would be doing something as ridiculous as trying to grow an apple from an orange or the other way around. Pepper was amazing in her own way and Tony still loved her, but what he had with her was entirely different from the connect he had with Bruce, be it with or without the drift. It is amazing how just a few months ago Tony had been living without knowing Bruce or breathing in the same air as him; now, pressed together as they are, sharing heat and breath and pleasure, Tony can’t imagine himself with anybody else. Bruce is literally made for him.

The surprise lasts for a moment more before it changes into something gentler and—if he could use the word—happier. Bruce looks up at Tony and smiles in that quiet, beautiful way that never fails to get him, eyes alight with something close to happiness. “You make me sound like some sort of newly discovered species,” he murmurs in what is supposedly a wry tone, but Tony can hear the amusement that lies beneath those words.

“Newly discovered to me, yes,” Tony replies easily, leaning back down to kiss Bruce once more. “And you’ll never stop being new to me. Think of all the amazing science we’ll get to do together now.”

Bruce rolls his eyes at that response. “I hope we’re talking about actual science and not a euphemism.”

Trying to keep his grin down at this point is all but impossible, so Tony simply lets it shine through. “Who says it can’t be both?” he returns, and to prove his point he rolls his hips a little before easing himself out from Bruce’s pliant body. A soft groan comes out from Bruce as Tony pulls away, and that sound is so wonderful that Tony just has to give him a deep, proper kiss to reward him accordingly. Tony likes to believe in the effects of what positive reinforcement can do for people, especially Bruce. 

He keeps it up for a while before reluctantly pulling away, but even then Tony makes sure that he doesn’t stay away from Bruce for too long—can’t, even if he tried, not when Bruce was so warm and good to be with. Five steps to the table where the wet wipes are located and then back and Tony now has with him a box of wet wipes in order to clean the both of them up. Bruce makes a move to reach for some of the wipes, but Tony grabs his wrist before Bruce can do anything and places it back down, shaking his head.

“I’ll do it,” he says with a smile, giving Bruce another chaste kiss before he takes the wipes and cleans off most of the spunk that’s dried on Bruce’s skin, giving himself a cursory wipe afterwards. Once that is done Tony tosses the wipes (both used and unused ones) onto the nightstand and settles himself properly besides Bruce. Neither of them are going to be wholly clean until they hit the showers, but that’s okay. Tony can’t say he doesn’t relish the idea of them getting hot and sweaty again a few more times tonight and possibly the next morning as well. They had certainly earned it.

Besides, it doesn’t seem like Bruce particularly minds either, especially when he considers the way Bruce burrows himself close to Tony when he’s settled back down in bed. Bruce all but plasters himself against Tony’s side, tucking himself close and resting his head in the crook of Tony’s neck. It’s something that has been happening a lot, Tony thinks somewhat belatedly, a bit after his hand has automatically come up to thread fingers through Bruce’s hair like clockwork. He could start his ‘science’ with this in the future. The results would be fun and interesting, if anything.

But that’s all for another time. Right now Bruce is content and relaxed against him, and Tony wouldn’t have it any other way. He keeps on running his fingers in Bruce’s hair, relishing the feel of it and smiles when he feels Bruce curl into him and noses at his neck. 

He’s perfectly happy to just drift off like this, and Tony is in fact close to doing that, but before he can Bruce stops and mutters a question against his collarbone. “What do you plan to do after all the fighting?”

The question is quite left-field considering the circumstances, and Tony can’t help but feel as if he had been caught unawares. It would be a lie though to say that he _hasn’t_ thought about it—in fact the future is something Tony has been thinking about more and more often these days if only because of Bruce. What he has with Bruce now, Tony doesn’t want it to end when the fight against the kaiju is over. He wants it to go beyond the fighting and the battles they’re involved in. He wants to bring Bruce back to his home back in Malibu and show him the place, wants him to move in there to live with him and spend their time together in that one place Tony can truly call home. He wants Bruce to get into every part of his life just as Tony has done in Bruce’s own. 

Tony wonders if Bruce can hear and feel those thoughts as he turns to his side, wrapping his free arm around Bruce to pull him close so that he can hear and feel and sense everything that Tony says next in response. “I’m gonna switch SI to clean energy production entirely once I get to go back. I daresay I’ve made enough weapons to last a lifetime now, especially after the Jaegers. The last thing the world needs after the kaiju would be even more weapons.” And of course, there were other reasons too—reasons like Obadiah, first and foremost—but Bruce is already aware of that because of the drift, and Tony doesn’t like to talk about it anyway. 

Bruce hums quietly in his throat, a sound of affirmation more than response, and there is a beat before he speaks up once more. “Sounds like you’re going to be busy even after all of this.” There’s something in his voce there that Tony picks up—something sad and incredibly lonely, and fuck if Tony doesn’t know how that feels. He’s felt it all his life.

“It’s good to be busy,” he returns lightly, pressing his nose into Bruce’s hair and breathing in his scent. Bruce right now smells like sweat and musk and himself, a good combination. If he could Tony would bottle it right up. “What about you? Any plans after all the fighting?”

There’s another moment of silence, and Tony can feel Bruce tensing up a little which surprises him a little. The way he tenses up seems to suggest that somehow this is a sensitive topic which Tony can’t help but wonder why. What was Bruce so worried about in regards to what they did after the fighting? Not that Tony did think it was going to end anytime soon, but it certainly was a mystery to see Bruce worried about a future that might possibly take ages to come about.

Tony isn’t going to force Bruce to say anything if he doesn’t want to speak, but eventually Bruce does talk, voice soft as he answers the question. “I’m not sure,” he mutters, and it’s so quiet and soft that it’s nearly inaudible even to Tony’s ears. Bruce sounds so uncertain about it all, so genuinely lost in that one moment and when Tony thought about it it’s not hard to see why now. Bruce had spent all of his life running now, fleeing from Ross and the kaiju but once the both of them were gone, what was he to do? There was nothing left for him now, nothing except…

“Stay with me.” The words come out from him before Tony actually thinks it through, but once it’s there Tony thinks it’s the most brilliant idea he ever had. Bruce could come to live with him—Pepper could draw up some paperwork, of course, if he was especially adamant but Bruce should come anyway. Since he wants Bruce to be with him for the rest of his life, why not just invite him in? Tony can already see it; all the science he’ll get to do with Bruce, the days and nights spent with him in every corner of his house in Malibu. 

The way Bruce stills against him suddenly is a pretty good indicator of how taken aback he is as well, but since the idea is out Tony isn’t going to take it back. He doesn’t want to take it back. He wants to see Bruce content and sated in his bed, he wants to see Bruce to patter around his workshop with ease just like how he’s taken to the lab here, he wants to see Bruce comfortable and be in his element for once instead of hiding himself away. He wants to have Bruce in his life for as long as he can manage, for as long as it is possible—and when it becomes impossible, Tony will do everything he can to make it possible once more.

He snakes his arms around Bruce and pulls him in all the way, tucking him close so that there’s no more space between them and lets their bodies slot together. Bruce is a pillar of warmth beside him, giving Tony a measure of comfort and he tries to return the gesture by rubbing little circles on Bruce’s back.

“Before you start to freak out or reject me or anything else, just listen to what I have to say first, alright?” Tony murmurs quietly while he has the chance. Bruce remains still against him, but he isn’t struggling or trying to get out, so he chalks it as a momentary victory. “What we have now, I don’t want it to just be because of the Jaeger or the fighting we have to do. I want it to go beyond that. I…” 

He has to pause for a moment there and then so that Tony can actually compose himself and figure out what he can say, because talk is really something he isn’t that all good at doing unlike what people may think—and stuff like this even more so. “You’re irreplaceable, Bruce. You’ve got a big brain, and you actually understand me which hasn’t really happened before. I like having people who understand me and losing you after everything is something I can’t really think about. I want you around, which doesn’t really happen too. I mean, I’m not going to stop you if you don’t want to stay with me but it would be really nice if you did.” Tony knows he’s not really getting to his point here and is more of rambling right now, but honestly things like these were really not his department. He feels entirely out of place with this conversation, and by this point he’s just hoping that Bruce gets where he’s getting at and actually gives him an answer. There’s only so much anticipation he can take.

As nervous as he is, Tony tries his best to not pressure Bruce, only continuing to rub his back and nose through his hair. If Bruce says no Tony won’t force him—he can respect Bruce and his decision, even if there will always be a part of him that wishes things would be otherwise. But until Bruce actually gives him an answer Tony is going to hope for the best here. 

Minutes pass and Bruce still hasn’t given his answer, and Tony is almost convinced that Bruce either is telling him a silent ‘no’ or has somehow fallen asleep. He starts to make a move to check, but before he does so Bruce shifts slightly against him, pulling back just enough to look at Tony in the eye. “It would be nice to have a place again,” he speaks quietly, but that’s more than enough of an answer for Tony. He brightens up instantly, breaking into a small grin as he leans in and kisses Bruce for all he’s worth, until Tony can feel him loosen up, tension easing off his body as Bruce gradually relaxes against him.

The grin remains on his face after Tony pulls back and sees the way Bruce is dazed by that kiss alone—but in a good way. It’s impossible to resist him, and so Tony gives him another kiss, this one chaste and on his forehead. He doesn’t want to make himself entirely overbearing yet, not when now he knows they now have a whole life ahead of them. 

“Trust me,” he says, with a million watt smile, “Your life is going to be better from here on, I promise.”

* * *

“I promised a better life.”

The graveyard is cold and solemn, filled with nothing but silence and markers that keeps count of the dead. The sky was overcast, clouds blocking the sunlight and shrouding the world with shade. Perhaps it was going to rain later—the weather was still kind of messed up after the breach had been sealed back up by Stacker Pentecost and his team of people a few months ago. Tony supposes it’ll take a while before the world slowly starts to stabilize itself again.

He wonders what Bruce would say about it as he stares at the grave before him, noting the name and following details carved onto the stone. Now that the fight against the kaiju (and the Precursors, he supposed, considering the things Geiszler and Gottlieb had discovered) was officially over the government finally took the time to gather the numbers and names of the people who had lost their lives in this long, tiring battle. The list starts from the soldiers who had defended San Francisco in the first landfall and ends with Pentecost when Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori closed the breach. They even took the effort to dedicate a monument and a space for all the bodies—or at least whatever could be found of the bodies, if there had been any at all.

 _It’s really not fair_ , Tony thinks to himself silently as he bites down on his lip. Once people were gone they were gone for good, and no matter how smart he could be, or how much people tried, there was no way to bring them back. So many promises made and in the end none of them could be fulfilled. Surely there couldn’t be a worse fate than this.

Glancing down, Tony shuffles on his feet for a moment before he looks back at the tombstone again, clutching the bouquet of flowers he got from the florist on the way here—white carnations, which Tony is pretty sure is a stand when it comes to things like these. He has never been fond of graveyards, even from young—they were far too quiet for his tastes, filled with too much death, many of which Tony knew that were due to his hands and his creations. As much as the Jaegers helped they also hurt at the end, but at least now the fighting was over. All the Jaegers have been scrapped at Tony’s insistence since the end of the fighting, and now the arc reactor technology is going to be directed (and hopefully remain) in the field of clean energy. After all the harm he had brought to his world it was time to do some good instead. Tony knew that he would approve of it.

Tony doesn’t really know at all what to say, or if he should even say anything in the first place, but it doesn’t feel right to just leave here when he’s just arrived and just standing still here is kind of dumb in his opinion at least he should try and give an update of sorts. It’s only fair.

“I promised a lot of things, now that I think about it,” he finally manages to continue speaking even though getting every word out is an effort in and of itself. “Although a lot of them were made in the heat of the moment, so I guess it technically doesn’t count. But I would like to think that I’m a guy who can keep to his promises so long as it is possible to fulfil them.” 

The sky seems to let out a rumble, perhaps an indicator of a storm in the distance, and Tony wonders if it’ll come here. Maybe that would be nice—the weather has been somewhat dry in the recent days. A little water might be a good thing. Perhaps it might wash away some of the things that are still trying to hold on here.

Tony raises the flowers in his hand. “There’s still a lot I have to do if I hope to match up to what you did, but I’m doing my best with every step. I’m really not good at this, but I know I should at least try. He deserves that much after all.”

He starts to bend down to place the flowers, but before he can do that his phone rings with a familiar ringtone and Tony picks up the call with a smile. “For what do I have the pleasure in having my awesome science boyfriend calling me?”

Through the phone Tony can hear Bruce letting out a small laugh. “You can thank Clint when you come back, then. He wouldn’t stop pestering me to call you and check if you’re on the way.”

“Surely he can wait for a bit more,” Tony mutters in exasperation as he rolls his eyes. “He’s a super spy-slash-assassin person, I’m sure he knows the meaning of patience.”

“Not when it comes to movie night, apparently.” In the background Tony can hear Clint shouting for him to hurry it up while the rest of the gang chatter indistinctly. Tony supposes he did take a bit longer than he thought it would, but his visit here had been kind of a spontaneous thing. 

Tony lets out a sigh and shakes his head, even if Bruce can’t see it. “I should be back soon. Tell them not to worry. Losing fifteen minutes isn’t going to be the end of the world.”

Bruce snorts at that response. “No, I’m pretty sure it’s not.” There’s a brief pause after that as Bruce talks to somebody else (most likely Rogers) about the update before going back to Tony again. “Well, no rush. But Jane says if you’re late by more than half an hour she gets to choose the movie instead.”

An amused smile crosses Tony’s face. “Well, when you say that, I suppose I do have to make it back in time now. Unless we’re all ready for things like _The Lake House_ again.”

“To be fair, it was a decent film,” Bruce replies, but there’s mirth in his response that Tony can pick up and his smile turns into a full-fledged grin.

“Of course you would say that,” he teases back, and Bruce snorts again before Tony continues. “But alright, just give me another fifteen minutes more. I’ll be back by then.”

“Alright.” The way Bruce says that does make it sound like he wants to say something else, so instead of hanging up Tony keeps the call on for a while more, waiting patiently to see if Bruce would speak what’s on his mind. And he does, after a moment—to something Tony did not really expect right there and then. “Love you.”

Two simple words, but yet they fill him up all the way inside and stay warm in his chest. If there had been anybody else nearby they would have seen the way Tony’s face instantly lit up when he heard the words, so suddenly joyful was he with it. “Same here,” he returns, and he’s certain that Bruce can hear the happiness in his voice before he hangs up the call.

Pocketing his phone, Tony glances at the tombstone again and this time does bend down now to place the flowers. “I’ll take care of him,” he promises when he’s straightened himself back up, keeping his words honest and true. “So you don’t need to worry. I’ll make sure he can live the life he once promised to you, and live it well. A good man like him deserves it.”

Tony gives the carved words in the stone one more look, knowing that soon Bruce will know about this graveyard and the fact that Betty Ross has a place here too and will visit here eventually. But before that news comes out from SHIELD and the others besides Romanoff and Barton he’s here first, to affirm his own promise and do his best to give Bruce to things he has missed before. Tony knows how much Betty meant to Bruce, and though she is dead he figures this is the most respectable thing he can do right now. To ensure that Bruce is in safe hands with him, and that he will protect Bruce with all of his power.

With all of that affirmed inside of him, Tony nods respectfully at the tombstone before he turns and makes his way out. Out of this place and back to Malibu, back Rhodey and Pepper and to the rest of the gang who he had fought alongside with, but most importantly—back to Bruce, and back to home.

**Author's Note:**

> Giving out some shout outs to the people who've helped me through this - the friends who kept encouraging me to write it across the month, the usual gang of writers as well as the MLs in the NaNo season for making it awesome and fun. Without all of that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to have finished this fic. In addition, I'd like to thank the amazing brilcrist for her very inspirational artwork as well! [Loki](http://brilcrist.tumblr.com/post/58403111189/marvel-x-pacific-rim-au-loki-the-kaiju-master) here in particular has been inspired by her drawings, so much kudos to her for that. 
> 
> And of course, I'd like to thank you, the reader, for sticking through this fic and reading it. I do hope you enjoyed reading it just as much as I had fun writing it, which is pretty much the most important thing here. c: Have a good December and the rest of the year 2013!


End file.
